Billet on the Anvil
by KellyShepard087
Summary: A story following the life of Commander Kelandra Shepard through her roots and her struggles in Mass Effect 1.
1. Chapter 1

-Billet on the Anvil-

Author's Note: This will be slightly left of canon. One, because there is a whole lot of dialogue to try and remember, and I know I'd fail. And two, because I want to! lols, no seriously, I like the idea of using the basic, bare necessities lines from the game and opening the dialogue up myself.

On that count. I do write with the presumption that my readers have played the games. So, don't come crying to me about spoilers. Suck it up and go play. Or take your ball and go home.

Secondary note: There is a fair amount of military terminology within that I use without explaining how it works. If you don't know any, I apologize ahead of time. And no, I won't fix it. Go learn about it.

Character Bio/Background: Kelandra Mae Shepard, Colony born, Sole survivor, Engineer. ME1 Half Paragon/Half Renegade

* * *

Sitting in the neat and orderly office, Commander Kelly Shepard looks around and wonders. What is it with psych officers and them all having the same boring books, various boring nic-naks, and why do all of them have the meditative sand rake thing, and the clacking balls? Granted, the ball toy is at least fun.

Having done this review on a yearly basis for the past eleven years. You would think by now they would just write a note 'Commander Shepard, cleared for duty' and be done with it.

Truth be told, this visit is out of the ordinary. She had her yearly visit three months ago. Her gaze wanders out the view port in the bulkhead. The view is a nice one. Looking down at the gas giant, Themis. Shepard stands and walks to the view port. Leaning on the dense glass she watches the swirl of the red and brown gasses in the atmosphere.

"What an ugly planet." She mutters to the glass.

"Generally gas giants very rarely have an appealing aesthetic." A male voice comes from behind her. She turns around to see him clearly.

He is an inch or two shorter than her five feet and seven inches. He has unremarkable brown hair, pale eyes, and that stupid 'understanding' empty smile that all shrinks have. He extends his hand to her. "Lieutenant Andrews, Commander."

Military custom dictates that they should salute. But in Naval Evaluations Unit custom mostly goes out the window.

She shakes his firmly. She has to resist rolling her eyes at his weak and slick grip. She politely lets go as quick as possible. "A pleasure, sir." Custom or no, eleven years of military training keeps her back straight, and courtesy to a fellow officer.

"At ease." He sits at his desk, a plain, boring tan metal monstrosity. "Please, have a seat." He gestures to the chair placed directly in front of him.

She doesn't move from by the window. "I'd rather not. Will this take long?"

"Hard to say." She watches him pick up a data pad from his desk and pull up her file. He proceeds to thumb through it briefly. "I see your last evaluation was only a few months ago. All seems in order."

She tries not to fidget, "Sounds good. May I go now? I have things to do."

"No, you may not." The tone in his voice bothers her. Like a reproachful father.

"Alright then." She steps away from the window and leans slightly against the back of the chair. "Can I ask why we're having this little chat then?"

"Captain Anderson has requested you to operate as his Executive Officer for the maiden voyage of his new vessel. Given the nature of the job. It is in the Alliances best interest to evaluate any, ah, issues, certain candidates might have. Any mental instabilities that impede on their ability to perform the duties required, must be addressed."

This time she really does roll her eyes, sagging momentarily against the chair. "Really? I get a promotion and the first thing you want to do is revisit my 'Mental stability'? Haven't I proven in eleven years that there are no problems. I'm good!" She waves her hand dismissively at the file, "So write in there that I'm good to go and send me on my way. If I'm to do this, there is a great deal that needs to be done. I've got no time to fuss around with you lot."

She is amused when the Lieutenant actually sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Very well then. You continue to exhibit signs of mental stability, even with your tendency for insubordination."

She chuckles and half shrugs her shoulders, "What's a girl to do?"

He rubs his forehead then enters his assessment into her file. "You may go. You've been cleared for duty."

She only nods his way then swiftly exits the office. "Gods above." She moans as she briskly walks the halls of Arcturus station back towards her quarters. Once there she enters the code for her door and steps inside. She sighs happily as she thumbs the lights up. Her quarters are small, one room only. But they are hers. Used to living on ships most of the time, to have her own quarters is nice. Even if it's the half the size of a dorm room. A rack, desk and head is all she needs. Alliance base housing provides the rest.

To a stranger looking around her room, it would seem plain, bare and spartan. To her, she may have only few possessions, but each holds a meaning. The small photo frame on top of her locker holds a blurred, stained photograph. In it is a young family. The tiny woman holding a baby girl in the crook of her right arm, and the hand of a boy in her left hand. The man has one arm holding the boy to him, and the other draped around the woman. It's the only photo Shepard has of her family. She took it a few years ago from a census of Mindoir's residents that was recorded some twenty years ago.

Next to it sits a canvas painting of a hazy blue and lavender tree resembling a willow. She bought it her first time on the Citadel from an Asari artist. There is something about the way the lines move and the vague blurs to it that comfort her. Those are her only two personal belongings. Having been on the move after Mindoir, she never bothered with collecting anything that would just be cumbersome to pack repeatedly.

She has a couple of civvy outfits, though she rarely wears anything but her uniform. The only civvy clothes that see the outside of her foot locker regularly are the blue jeans, and leather jacket she wears to the bar off duty. The rest are only there because people keep giving her gifts.

She sets her cover by the door and sits down at her desk with a sigh, resting her head in her hands. What a waste of time.

Though to be selected for an XO position would be a big improvement to just being another extra gun who's handy with a wrench. Maybe this will be a good step up in her career. It sure would beat crap assignments of escorting diplomat ships across the 'verse. Unable to resist the temptation she pulls up her terminal and accesses her messages. She has three. An invite to a new club that's opened up. It's from Ellen. That woman sure has a sense of humor. Her, Shepard, in a club? Ridiculous. She deletes the message, vowing to get payback on Ellen. The next is a notice that a part for her pistol has arrived and will be available and reqs to pick up. The last gets her attention, and is the one she was hoping would be there. Simply flagged 'ATTENTION: Ship reassignment'. She expands it to read the message. It is the format of a normal ship assignment notice. But when she reads the name of the ship, she can't help but let out a squeal of joy, the Normandy. The most advanced ship in the Alliance. Under the command of Captain David Anderson. One of the most respected captains in the fleet, his service record is miles long and decorated with many war and peacetime medals.

She quickly sends a reply confirming the requested ship assignment. Agreeing on the appointed time to show herself to the captain for briefing, tomorrow at oh nine hundred at the Normandy's dock, D2.

She logs off and spins her chair in glee. Captain Anderson wants _her_ as his XO. She can't believe her luck and sends a quick threat to The Trickster that if he fucks up this chance for her. There will be hell to pay.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: This chapter as introductions to canon characters. I do not physically describe them for a reason. I assume my readers already know the physical attributes. I'm looking for personality attributes to explore.

Enjoy!

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Chapter two

Walking down the corridor on the docks. She counts them off, heading towards Dry Dock 2. She runs a nervous hand down her NWUs smoothing them, even though they are pressed even already. When she reaches the corridor for the dock, she turns right. Looking down the ramp, she sees Anderson pacing slightly in front of the smooth silver and blue of the ship's airlock.

She quick marches down and comes to attention in front of him, "Commander Shepard reporting for duty, sir!" she barks, snapping a sharp salute.

He returns her salute, "At ease." he extends his hand as she steps into parade rest. She shakes his hand. His firm, friendly grip relaxes her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, commander. I've heard a lot about you."

She is taken aback, he knows of her? "Um, thank you, sir. I hope it's all good you've heard."

Her statement causes him to chuckle, he turns toward the ship. "Very much so. You have quite the reputation, even if you don't know it. I like the way you handled yourself on akuze. My condolences for your loss."

She nods grimly, "My thanks, sir." Looking at the whole of the ship her breath is taken away. "She sure is a beauty, sir." Shepard admires the sleek gracefulness of her hull. "Her size is impressive for a frigate."

"The pride of the fleet. Turians build their frigates larger than our own, given the size differential between our species. We compromised. Her interior is even more impressive." He steps to the side, allowing her to enter the airlock first. "Akuze wasn't the only thing that caught my attention. You commanded your squad very well during the skyllian blitz. Especially considering you were on leave. Quiet, yet efficient. Your service record is exemplary." He gives her a sidelong grin, "Even given your tendencies for insubordination."

She schools her face to blandness, "I'll be sure to work on that, sir."

"No need. Insubordination keeps us old farts on our toes." He smiles again. Shepard decides she likes this man. She can see why he always commands a loyal crew. They exit the airlock into the ship. She is greeted by the quarterdeck watch, a short woman, fresh out of boot and OCS, she has an ensign's bar on her collar.

Shepard and the Captain snap a salute to the Alliance flag secured to the bulkhead to the left of the airlock, then right face and salute the watch. "Executive Officer, Commander Shepard, requesting permission to board." She drops her salute to stand at attention.

The watch ensign returns her salute. "Permission granted, Ma'am." They step past her as she announces on the PA. "Captain aboard, XO Pressley stands relieved."

Shepard looks left towards the bridge, stepping in she is impressed again by the size of it. Two men sit in the pilot and copilot chairs.

The copilot on the right turns around and stands to salute. "Staff Lieutenant Alenko, Ma'am. Kaidan Alenko. Head of the ship's Marine detail."

"At ease." she replies after returning his salute. She follows Anderson's example and extends her hand for a shake. "Good to see a fellow marine on board. I worried I'd walked into a boatload of squids."

He smiles wryly at her joke, "We jarheads gotta stick together, Ma'am." he nods politely to the captain. "You picked a good one, sir."

"I thought as much, Alenko." Anderson smiles. "Shepard, may I present Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau."

The pilot's chair turns around, the young man has mischief dancing in his eyes. He stands shakily to a salute. "FInally! We got a decent woman to look at. Joker, at your service, Ma'am!"

Shepard grins inwardly, he is going to be fun. "I'll take that as a compliment, but ask you to refrain from making such comments in the future Mr. Moreau." Doing an about face, she walks back down the neck of the ship. A grin spreading wide on her face, outside of Joker's sight. She hears Anderson remark behind her.

"As your commanding officer, take it not as a suggestion or a question. That's an order."

"Aye, captain."

Anderson catches up to Shepard at the threshold to the galaxy map in the CIC. "You'll have to pardon Joker. He suffers from Vrolik syndrome and his extreme talent for flight gives him airs, he feels free to be insubordinate. His previous commanders did nothing to discourage it."

"Long as he can fly, I could give a rat's ass about insubordination." She grins at Anderson, "Begging your pardon, sir."

"Oh, I'm doomed to be surrounded by insubordination. We'll be the laughing stock of the Alliance." He chuckles.

"The envied laughing stock, sir. She's too good a ship for any to care what her crew gets up to."

He claps her on the back. "Let me show you the rest of the ship." He leads her down the curving stair well to the Crew deck.

She is surprised that, as the XO, she has her own cabin. Not meager closet sized quarters, a true cabin. It's located past the emergency supplies corridor. Next to the med bay. Equipped with a full bed, desk, and foot locker.

She turns to Anderson, "Very nice. I feel bad for it, I have few personal possessions, it'll be a waste of space."

"Waste it however you see fit." A wicked gleam lights his eyes. They turn towards the port side coming out of the cabin and walk past the mess on their right, in the center of the open floor of crew deck.

She looks down the catwalk to stern, seeing the sleeping pods she asks, "What's at the other end there?"

"The weapons bay. You won't see much action aboard on our shakedown voyage. Through here is the medbay." He lets her enter the long room lined with bio beds. An older woman in a doctor's uniform turns to greet them.

"Hello again Anderson." She shakes hands with the captain and extends her hand to Shepard. "Karin Chakwas, I'll be the ship's doctor."

'"Pleasure, Ma'am." Shepard shakes her hand. The woman has a good shake. Firm, and quick.

"I've read your record, Commander. I hope I do not see you as often as some of your other ship medics." The woman feigns concern, but her eyes dance with a smile.

"One can always hope." Shepard replies. "I do have a sad tendency to leap first before checking the landing."

This startles a laugh from the older woman, "Oh heavens. I've never heard it phrased so accurately. Or eloquently. I think we'll get along just fine."

Anderson and Shepard smile and bid farewell to Chakwas as they exit the med bay and enter the lift.

"This will take us down to Engineering and the cargo bay." Anderson tells her. Ever the gentleman he allows her, once again, to enter and exit first.

The cargo bay is very large and open. There is a mako assault vehicle in the forward port side corner, next to the drop bay doors. The forward starboard corner has a small gym set up. Work bench, lift bar, punching bag, and free weights.

Directly to the left of the lift doors is a training area, flat mat for freestyle hand to hand training. Being a frigate there is not a firing range, but it does have a Holo Interface virtual range.

"There really is no expense spared on this vessel. Is there?" She raises an eyebrow at Anderson as they take the walk back to the CIC and Airlock.

Standing on the quarterdeck Shepard shakes hands once more with Anderson, "It's been a pleasure, sir. She's a damn fine ship."

"With a damn fine crew." Anderson comments, "Feel free to come aboard and stow your belongings whenever you wish. You'll have three days to finalize anything that needs doing here on the station. Normandy sails at oh eight hundred on friday."

"Yes sir." She salutes him and the flag before disembarking. She can't stop the grin on her face the whole walk back to her quarters. The Normandy is more grand than she had ever let herself believe. It's been the talk of the station since its construction began. No one but her crew is allowed on board because of its confidentiality. But, glory what a ship.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Warning for some small fluff.  
We're getting into familiar territory now. So this begins the point that I give my warning of left of canon again, and ask for any complaints to be withheld.

As always, all is property of Bioware.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter three

Roaring with laughter Ellen punches Kelly's shoulder lightly. "He did _not_ say that to you!"

The two women are at Kelly's favorite bar on Arcturus. A little dive bar that aims for the ambiance of the Honky Tonks back on Earth. They are both chilling at a small round table, watching the local band play bluegrass and country music.

"I shit you not." Kelly says with a straight face, a small smile tugs her lip at her friend's amusement. "He looks at me and the first words out of his mouth are, 'Finally! We got a decent woman to look at.'" she chuckles.

"What did you do?" Ellen has a reproachful look in her ice blue eyes, "Please tell you didn't deck him."

"Nah, he's got Vrolik Syndrome, but I wasn't bothered by it. A compliment is a compliment, whether it comes from a guy." She stops and looks slyly at Ellen and winks, "Or a girl. I halfway reprimanded him and walked away. I had to restrain myself from laughing."

Ellen just shakes her head laughing. "Cut that out right now, Shepard. I like our friendship, right where it is."

"What? Are you too good for me?" Kelly feigns insulted.

"Ha!" Her friend barks a laughter, "More like you are way too adventurous for my tastes."

Kelly grins a wolf's grin, and raises her beer, "To adventure!" she cries. They both laugh and down their beers. It's their last night before Kelly ships out with the Normandy, and her and Ellen are enjoying it together. Doubtless it'll be the last for a long while yet to come.

Drinking beer quickly leads to drinking whiskey, and drinking whiskey leads to dancing. The next thing they know, their barroom dancing turns into bedroom dancing. Kelly smiles when she looks down at the sleeping woman beside her on the rack in her quarters.

Her and Ellen haven't had a good tussle in months now. Their friendship every once in awhile goes that extra mile if neither of them has had a girl recently. She runs her fingers through Ellen's short blonde hair, then caresses her friend's cheek and down her chest. Ellen's chest flutters in a giggle.

Her eyes blink open, "Round two already?" She asks, tweaking Kelly's nose. "I was enjoying my rest."

Kelly pouts at her, "Aw, you givin' out on me?"

Ellen sits up enough to kiss Kelly, "Nope, not yet." She pulls Kelly down on the bed beside her, and the two of them tumble happily into bliss again.

Kelly wakes before Ellen at oh six hundred. She dresses in her Dress khakis, not sure what uniform of the day will be onboard, then proceeds to pack her belongings and enough clothes for three weeks in her seabag. She leans over Ellen at oh seven hundred to plant a soft kiss on her forehead before turning and walking out to the hall, seabag over her shoulder. She makes it to the Normandy by seven thirty and proceeds onto the ship. Greeting the watch Ensign, she heads down to her cabin to stow her belongings before going topside on the dock to wait for the Captain and the christening ceremony before the ship can get underway. Most of the crew not at vital tasks aboard ship have assembled on the dock, all in dress khakis as well.

Press officials and sightseers begin arriving and filling the bay around seven forty five. Anderson arrives with Admiral Hackett, both in dress blues shortly after. The naming ceremony is quick and efficient. The Admiral cracks a bottle of champagne against the hull beside the airlock, christening the Normandy.

Anderson turns to Shepard, "Give the orders to board, Commander."

She salutes him, "Aye sir!" she performs an about face, her back to the crowds. "Ten-hut!" the company snaps to attention, "All hands aboard ship! Rear lines first, front line last. Move!" the lines right face and begin boarding the ship. It takes only a few minutes for the crew of twenty to board the Normandy. Shepard about faces to Anders, "Captain, sir!" She snaps a salute, "All aboard, sir!"

"Very well, Commander." He returns her salute, "Proceed to board and prepare the ship to get underway."

"Aye aye, sir!" She replies. Another about face and she marches aboard ship. She salutes the quarterdeck watch and steps onto the bridge.

Standing on the deck behind Joker in the pilot chair she looks out the forward view windows. They look out into black space, peaceful and expectant. "Status report."

"All is green across the board, Ma'am. Awaiting orders to fire her up."

"Very good Joker." She lays her hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure the captain will be along shortly."

Kaidan steps onto the bridge behind her. "Ain't that a sight?" he asks, stepping past Shepard to the copilots chair.

"It sure is." Anderson replies as he comes onto the bridge.

Both Shepard and Kaidan salute the captain, before Kaidan takes his seat.

"Status report Shepard."

"All is ready and waiting sir. Green across the board."

"Very well." He turns back toward the airlock, Shepard turns with him and sees a Turian step onto the ship. She is surprised to see him ask the watch for permission to board. Clearly the ensign wasn't expecting this either, she stutters her permission.

He turns toward Shepard. She studies him with a critical eye. Scars on his face and neck show him to be a fighter, his face tattoos tell those who know Turian culture that he is a high ranking and respected warrior.

"Commander Shepard," Anderson looks to the Turian, "May I introduce Nihlus Kryik, Council Spectre."

Shepard's eyes widening slightly are the only tell to her shock, and surprise. She extends her hand to him, "Nihlus, sir. Good to meet you. Welcome aboard."

"Thank you, Commander." He returns her handshake, she notices how he shifts his grip to not crush her hand with his large hand and strength. A friendly handshake, but questing too. Testing her grip and tolerance. She lets him be the first to release. Showing him that she won't back down. He turns to Anderson, "To which room should I put my things?"

Anderson leads him down the catwalk towards the CIC, "I've got you set up in my quarters. Right this way." Shepard hears him say as they leave.

"Oh joy." She mutters. "Good thing I didn't bring much aboard."

"What's that Shepard?" Kaiden asks.

"If Nihlus has the captain's quarters, that means I get bumped from mine for the captain to have."

"So if everyone gets bumped down, who's the poor sot that gets to find deck space to kip on?" Joker quips from his chair. "I ain't budging, I like my spot."

"No one." Shepard says firmly. "I'm used to tight quarters and hard beds. I'll ask Adams if I can find space in Engineering." She turns and walks down to the crew deck. Grimacing at her uneasy stomach. Her gut instincts are usually right. Something fishy is going on here. She enters her cabin and is glad she had not unpacked yet. She lifts her sea bag from the locker and turns to leave the room. Nihlus blocks her way, standing just outside the door.

She puts a friendly smile on her face, "Is there something I can do for you, sir?"

"Where are you going?"

Direct, isn't he? "Down to Engineering. I will be laying out a cot somewhere down there for the duration of your stay, sir."

"Interesting." He says, as he turns and walks away she hears him comment, "A commander willing to forgo comfort for the sake of her crew. Interesting."

She hitches her seabag higher on her shoulder and takes the lift to Engineering.

She hefts her Seabag higher on her shoulder again as she rounds the corner into Engineering. The eccentric solitary Lieutenant of Engineering is at the console in front of the drive core, his back to her.

"Excuse me, sir?" She questions, stepping up closer to him.

He turns around to look at her. "Hello Ma'am!" He greets jovially. "What brings you down to my humble area?"

"Looking for a quiet berth for myself to kip while our turian guest enjoys captain's quarters."

"Ah, you got bumped from your cabin?"

"Aye sir. " She replies, she feels comfortable speaking candidly with this man. Kindred spirits she supposes. Love of the mechanic and engineering arts. "Got room for me?"

Adams is happy to let her set up a cot. He remarks he rarely uses his sleeping pod, preferring to kip by the engines. She smiles, thanks him, and makes her way back to the bridge.

As she walks briskly back through the ship she hears Joker over the PA sounding off the sequence of approaching the relay.

She gently pushes past an NCO at the catwalk to the bridge, she steps onto the bridge as Joker hits the relay. Even though she knows the inertial dampeners compensate for it, she always feels her stomach lurch when a ship exits a jump.

"Good job. Your captain will be pleased." Nihlus comments as he walks past, sparing a glance at Shepard as she enters the bridge. She turns back forward in time to hear Joker complain.

"Good? I'm not good, I'm not even great, I am the best damn helmsman in the Alliance fleet! Look, you remember to zip up your flight suit on the way back from the bathroom, that's good. I just shot us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead, that's incredible."

"He's a Spectre, what do you expect?" Shepard comments standing between Joker and Kaiden seated in the copilot seat.

"Jesus Shepard!" Joker swears, "Don't scare a guy! We gotta put a bell on you."

"A bell? I think not. You have to take Nihlus with a grain of salt. He's probly never flown with a human pilot before." She claps Joker on the shoulder. "You did great. If only all my jumps went so smooth."

Anderson comes through the radio to check status. Joker tells him to watch himself, Nihlus is on the way.

"He's already here." Anderson replies curtly.

"Great, you pissed off the captain." Shepard drawls, lightly slapping the back of Joker's seat.

"Yeah, and he wants to see you."

"Double joy." She turns to leave, "Tell him I'm on my way."

"Aye, Ma'am." Walking across the CIC, she sees Chakwas speaking with a corporal who is emphatically waving his hands while he rambles on.

As she steps near, he waves her over. "What do you think Commander? What's the real reason for this trip? They don't send Spectres on a shakedown run."

"It isn't our place to question orders, but you're right. I can feel it. Something is off."

He shifts his weight excitedly, like a child at christmas. "Do you think we'll see any action? I can't wait to show all the girls how great a soldier I can be."

She holds out her hand in a calming gesture. "Hold it right there, bucko. What's your name?"

"Corporal Jenkins Ma'am. Corporal Richard L. Jenkins."

"Well, Corporal, this isn't some glory mission. I know you're eager to prove yourself. This is not that time. Do as you're told, and you might just survive long enough to make chief. Dismissed."

He glares at her, then turns and walks away.

"I had him well in hand, Commander." Chakwas looks to her, "Though I appreciate the help." She turns to go. "Good luck on the mission, Commander." She disappears down the stairwell. Shepard steps through the doors to the war room.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Got a fun chapter here for you. Got a little bit of adventure, some more left of canon fillers, throw in some action combat, and its a fun set-up for the following chapters.

Say hello to Eden Prime.

As before, all is property of Bioware.

* * *

Chapter four

Nihlus is standing inside, his back to the door. He is looking at a extranet profile for Eden Prime. Without turning around he addresses her. "Eden Prime. The jewel of the Alliance's human colonies."

"I wouldn't know, sir." She responds neutrally. "Can't say I've been there myself."

"Quite the accomplishment, isn't it?" He turns around to face her. His hands clasped loosely behind him. "A pillar of hope for humanity. Proving not only can your species establish colonies but can protect them too."

"I suppose so, sir. I was under the impression Captain Anderson would be here."

"He will be along shortly. I wanted a chance to speak with you privately."

Shepard makes a show of turning to look behind her. "Me, sir? Why?"

"You intrigue me Shepard. Your past shows one facet of a personality, but at the same time, more recent events contradict that. In short, you are an enigma."

"That still doesn't explain why you are here, now." Her stance relaxes into the posture she's held for years. One leg slightly extended and bent, cocking one hip a bit, arms crossed over her chest. "You could have approached me any time in the last few months."

"I think it's time to bring the Commander into the mission fully, Nihlus." Anderson says stepping down into the room.

"Sir?" Shepard turns to him, body instinctively straightening into parade rest.

Nihlus watches the commander once again intrigued by the way she can go from defensive conversation in a casual stance, to rigid marine in the breath of a heartbeat.

"Nihlus is here to evaluate your performance in the field. We're here on Eden Prime to retrieve a Prothean artifact that has been recovered. You will lead a ground team to the site and secure the Beacon."

"Very well, sir." She nods once, eyes level. "May I ask why me, sir?"

This startles a chuckle from Nihlus. "Captain Anderson has shown me your record, and spoken to your character. I must admit, you show promise to be evaluated, maybe even accepted, into the Spectre program."

Anderson correctly interprets Shepard's scowl. "Think about this Shepard, humanity has been pushing for a larger role in the galactic community. Something to help shape council politics. Having a human accepted into the ranks of Spectres is a huge step."

"Very well, sir." Shepard tries to hold her frustration in check, "I will think on it."

"Captain. Joker here." the radio crackles out his voice, "We have a direct link from Eden Prime. You need to see this sir."

"Put it on screen." Anderson steps up to the screen as screams and the sounds of battle appear with the shaky view from a helmet cam.

"This is..." static "Eden Prime..." static "...send help..." static "..under attack..." the line goes dead. The video pans up as a large ship, like no other ship known, descends from the clouds. Static lightning flickers across its matt black body, giving off no reflection. Appendages open wide at the base as it sinks to the ground. Like fingers of hell reaching. The vid flickers once, then goes static.

"Reverse. Hold at thirty eight point five." Anderson orders. The vid comes back, held steady looking at that monstrous ship. "My God." Anderson breathes, stepping closer. "What is it?"

Nihlus looks back towards the silent Commander behind him. Her eyes are wide, a grim tension pulls at the corners of her jaw and eyes, brow furrowed. This isn't fear on her, it's something else. He looks forward to seeing this woman in action.

"Joker." She commands over the ship's radio, "Assemble a team. I'm leading a strike team groundside."

"Aye Ma'am."

She quick marches out of the room. Not caring if Nihlus is following or not. She's shifted gears. Time to fight. Anderson follows right behind her to the armory in the cargo bay. Kaidan and Jenkins are gearing up. She steps up next them and begins pulling on the pieces for her N7 black hardsuit.

Anderson briefs them. "Retrieving the Beacon is your top priority. Get to the site and secure it."

"What about survivors, sir?" Jenkins asks, bouncing up and down. The motion settles his armor in place.

"Survivors are of second priority. We have to recover that beacon."

"Approaching drop point one." Joker intercedes over the radio.

Nihlus steps up beside them checking and shipping his pistol. "I move faster on my own. I'll provide you intel on the terrain. We'll rendezvous at the dig site." He takes three quick steps and jumps out of the open bay doors.

"Approaching drop two." Joker reports.

"Move soldiers!" Shepard orders. Kaidan and Jenkins move double time to the bay and drop out.

Anderson catches Shepard's arm, "Remember. Nihlus needs to see you at work."

"Aye sir."

"Dismissed." She turns and sprints two hard thumping steps before vaulting out of the bay, landing softly on one hand and knee beside Jenkins and Kaidan.

Straightening up she scans the terrain around her. Immediately she spots four bodies, scorched and twisted in macabre poses. Dead. She spots a trail leading out of their small gorge.

"Move out." She orders. They fan out and climb the trail, staying near the large boulders at the edge it.

A low hum, and whine gets their attention. A small hovercraft zips around the corner ahead and peers down at them. Its triangular shaped body is roughly the size of a small house pet. Its domed shape has a thin red eye on front.

Jenkins runs out from cover, his gun raised high he unloads a sweep across the vehicle and the two more that follow. All three open fire on the private. He shudders as blue white energy hits him. Shepard can smell charred flesh. The third shot goes clean through him. He collapses, dead before he hits the ground.

Shepard launches an overload, then uses her pistol to bring down two of the drones. Kaidan accounts for the third with his biotics.

Shepard glances at him as he kneels down over Jenkins body, he looks up to Shepard, "Dead Ma'am."

"Leave him." She says cooly. When Kaidan opens his mouth to argue she growls. "That's an order. We'll call the Normandy for an evac for him. But the mission comes first."

Kaidan's face is a grimace but he keeps his mouth clenched shut. He closes Jenkins eyes then stands. "Aye Ma'am."

Battling six more of the drones and two squads of Geth troopers they slowly make their way toward the dig site. Coming around a blind corner in their path Shepard glances around it to see the path drop below them into a broad shallow valley between hills. A marine comes dashing towards them from the far side of the valley. She dodges and weaves between covers to throw off the pursuing Geths' aim. She turns midway up the hill near them, and fires into the throngs of the squad below. She knocks out three before having to take cover behind a rock face.

Shepard signals Kaidan out for covering fire as they press forward, driving the Geth back and killing the majority of them.

Once the area is clear, Shepard removes her helmet and turns to the woman as she is getting up from her crouch behind the rock. Shepard extends her hand, "Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance."

The woman snaps to attention. "Gunnery Chief Williams, Ma'am!" she barks out breathlessly.

Shepard drops her hand and rubs the back of her neck. "At ease, chief. Permission to speak candidly."

She woman relaxes removing her helmet. Her black hair in its horsetail gets snagged, she tugs it free and leaves it draped over her shoulder. Her helmet she clips to her waist, extending her hand. "Apologies, Ma'am. Habit. Ashley Williams."

"Good to meet you." Shepard shakes her hand, then waves Kaidan over. "This is Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko."

He shakes her hand then steps back.

"What happened here?"

Ashley feels like Shepard's brown eyes are piercing her soul. "My squad was out on patrol when the attack started. We double timed it back towards the base. God, half my squad was slaughtered on the way, the rest once we got there. I heard your drop ship and the battle. I figured the enemy of my enemy was a good direction to head." She looks to the ground, thinking on her friends, those under her command, dead.

Shepard reaches out and lifts Ashley's eyes to hers, "They're not your fault. Trust me, it's not. We're here to retrieve the Beacon. Do you know where it is?"

"Last I saw the geth were closing in on the site. It might still be there."

"Good, Williams, you're coming with us." Shepard re-clips her helmet on.

"Yes Ma'am!" Ashley responds, snapping her own helmet back in place.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Lots of action here. Shepard gets to see some combat. We see some new enemies, Shepard shows a renegade side, and the plot thickens a little bit more.

Bioware owns all this awesome property as always.

* * *

Chapter five

"Trickster bless it." Shepard whispers, looking up the incline as more of the deformed humanoid creatures descend on them, moaning and crying like the damned escaping hell.

She ships her pistol and switches to her smg, releasing streams of bullets into their midst. Ashley lays down a spray of assault rifle fueled death. Kaidan provides counterpoint using biotic throws and blasts to level the enemies for the women to destroy.

When the last of them are down, Shepard cautiously steps up to one at the edge of the incline. Close inspection proves them to have been human. Something has replaced all the organic mass and replaced it with synthetics. Chills run down her back. What monstrosity does this?

So caught in thought is she that she doesn't hear the husk as it leaps over the rise at her. She is too slow to draw her pistol as the monster's hands grasp for her throat.

She grabs its shoulders and leans as far away as she can. The metal points on the hands draw blood from scalpel like incisions as it claws at her arms and face. Grunting with effort, these things are stronger than they look, she gets her knee up between her and the creature. Straining she kicks out, forcing the creature back. It still rips her arm guards as she twists it, slamming it to the ground. The thing finally loses its hold as she drives her boot into its face twice. She then pulls her pistol and fires twice into its head, ensuring it is dead.

She leans her hands on her knees, cuts steadily dripping blood to the ground. Those claws had penetrated her armor all the way to skin. Turning her arm guards into something resembling shredded cheese. Leaving a latticework of deep gouges in her arms. The dizziness in her head tells her she's lost more blood than she thought. Her face and neck are on fire, but not as bad as her hands and arms.

"Commander!" Kaidan cries as he jumps forward helping her stand straight.

She waves him off reaching into her suit's pockets, "I'm fine. Just give me a minute." She draws out two tubes of medigel and seals the wounds with it. She draws off the now useless arm guards and drops them to the ground.

"Let's _not_ repeat that experience again!" She growls fiercely as she turns toward the sound of knocks coming from a prefab to their left.

"What is it Commander?" Ashley asks stepping up beside her.

Shepard waves for silence, "I thought I heard something." The knocks sound again, she pins down the prefab they're coming from. "There. Something's in there."

They all draw their weapons as they slowly approach the unit.

Shepard bangs twice on the door. "Whoever is in there, come out slowly with your hands where I can see them!" She calls out.

"I can't!" A woman's voice calls out. It's pitched high in fear. "The door, it's jammed, won't open from this side."

"Alright." Shepard calls back. She kneels in front of the console, "Give me a sec." She raises her omni tool to get a scan of the lock mechanism. She then touches the points of the lock she wants on the tool causing the codes in the door align, giving a soft pop, the doors hiss open.

"Interesting to see a soldier, a commander, able to pick locks." Ashley mutters to herself.

"I find it a useful skill." Shepard quips as they step inside the unit.

There are two scientists inside, the woman is shaking in fear, but her companion is hunched over, muttering fast to himself. "Thank God!" the woman cries out, "You're human! I thought more of those machines would return with their weird clicks and whistles."

Shepard looks to the whimpering man, "What's the matter with your companion?"

"He's always been a bit unsettled, but the attack has upset him. He's schizophrenic."

The man turns to the marines and cries out, "They are coming! Can't fight them, never works. All die, every time. It's a waste. Each time, failure."

"Can you shut him up? My patience is thin normally, and not getting any better." Shepard grinds her teeth, his ramblings are digging under her skin.

"I gave him an emergency dose of meds, but it doesn't seem to be working."

"Death and birth, death, and birth. Death again!" He screams.

Shepard takes on a false kind tone, "Hey, doc. Doc? Hey, hey it's alright, easy fella." He calms slightly, leaning in towards Shepard.

"It won't work. Your plan. It'll fail. Always doomed to fail!" He starts ranting again.

"Oh screw this." Shepard growls. She takes her pistol, reverses her grip, and slams the butt across his temple. He folds like wet linen. "That's better." She comments as she ships her pistol.

"Shepard!" Kaidan cries out surprised.

"Hey!" The woman jumps and glares at Shepard.

"Oh lay off, both of you. He wasn't going to shut up anytime soon. It's easier this way." She turns back to the doctor. "Do you know how to get to the Beacon?"

"Yeh, yes." The woman stutters. "It's just over the rise at the back of the camp." Shepard turns to leave. "I wouldn't go there. It's crawling with those machines." Shepard doesn't respond she just keeps walking.

Kaidan grasps the woman's arm, "I'm sorry. For your friend."

"The meds will probably take better this way." She says tiredly.

Kaidan and Ashley quick march to catch up with Shepard as she reaches the back entrance to the camp.

The doc wasn't exaggerating. There is a squad of near about twenty Geth troopers at the dig site. The three of them quickly dispatch the Geth. Stepping up onto the low platform at the center of the site, Shepard looks around.

"Well? Where is it?"

"I don't know.." Ashley moans out. "It was here when my squad came through."

They hear a loud grating sound. Like metal grinding against metal, and moaning shriek accompanies it, raising hairs on the back of Shepard's neck. Looking up they see the giant alien ship begin its ascent up to the sky. The lightning along its sides dances and flashes out as the ship continues its ascent before it slips through the clouds. It exudes a thick orange red smoke from its engines in its wake.

'What the hell was that?" Kaidan gasps as the sound and the ship recede.

"I have no idea, but it came from the spaceport. And that's where we're heading."

"Shepard, Nihlus here." Her radio crackles as his voice comes across it, "That ship came from the port by me. Meet me there, we will rendezvous and search for any evidence. It's safe to presume the Beacon is aboard that ship. Nihlus out."

The line goes dead. "Awfully polite, isn't he?" Shepard jokes as they step across the platform. She stops in the middle, feeling something. Kaidan and Ashley continue on, unaware their commander has stopped. The air in the middle of the platform feels warm, and swirls slightly in the dead air.

Shepard shakes off the chills that race up her back and down her arms, as she turns and rushes to catch up to her squad. That air felt alive, heavy and expectant.

The sound of a gun firing once catches their attention. "Nihlus!" Shepard calls over the radio, static returns. "Nihlus!" All three of them take off down the path at double, double time.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: Whoops. sorry for the false alarm if you guys got the alert. Hazard of not proofreading before publishing. haha

Got an action packed chapter for you. Mostly straight on canon. Not veering very far left at all, beside dialogue.

Enjoy!

Bioware owns all

* * *

Chapter six

"He was shot in the back." Kaidan says standing up from Nihlus' body. "Point blank."

Shepard turns to look towards the spaceport. "Whoever shot him, he knew. Nihlus was a Spectre, he wouldn't turn his back on someone he didn't know."

"They may still be in the area. That shot rang out after the ship took off." Ashley says, then raises her rifle as a scuffling sound draws all their attention.

Shepard points her pistol towards a stack of crates that wobble. "Come out nice and steady. I wanna see your hands first, or I swear I will put a bullet through your brains."

"Ple-please, please don't shoot!" a dock worker stammers as he stands slowly up from behind the crates, his hands still hidden behind the crate.

"Hands." She says cooly. He quickly raises them to shoulder height. Seeing them empty she signals him to step out from behind the crate.

She lowers her pistol. "You are very lucky I didn't shoot first. What are you doing back there?"

"I was, was hiding." His eyes shift guiltily avoiding hers, "I saw that Turian come up. The other one met him."

"Other one?" Shepard interrupts.

"Yeah, he, the first turian, called him 'Saren' seemed to know him. Surprised he was here. When the first turned his back Saren shot him, in the back. I'm glad he didn't see me back here." His eyes shift again.

"How did you survive when everyone else died? Why didn't anyone else make it back there?" Shepard steps close to look behind the crates, it's a small hollow, but big enough for more than one to hide.

He looks at the ground ashamed. "I was already in there." he mumbles quietly.

"You slacker." Kaidan accuses.

The dockworker glares hard at him, "You don't know what it's like! I work over forty hours a week, non stop. Moving one heavy ass crate after another. For shitty pay. I sneak off back here when the shift leader is busy, catch a few winks. Maybe make an exchange, get a little something for my trouble."

"Exchange?" Shepard leans close. He claps a hand over his mouth, realizing he might have said too much. "What kind of exchange?"

"How was I supposed to know there'd be an attack! We are forced to have a platoon of Alliance soldiers that do nothing, no one ever attacks Eden Prime. So, I slip a gun here, a few clips there, a couple grenades out to a contact, he gives me a few extra credits for my trouble."

Ashley surges forward and grabs him by the front of his uniform, hauling him back against the crates, "You ungrateful bastard!" She growls "We are here to protect your sorry ass and you steal from us?"

"How was I to know you'd need them?" he cries back, then flinches as her fist pulls back to strike.

"Lay off him chief." Shepard barks.

Ashley hesitates a bare moment then punches the wall next to the man's head. Letting go of him, he crumples to the ground sobbing. "You're lucky you aren't worth the effort." She spits at him then strides away.

Shepard nudges him with her boot, "Got any of those supplies nearby?"

"Just, just a pistol and some grenades."

"Where?" A manic gleefulness fills Shepard's eyes, and her mouth quirks into a lopsided grin. Kaidan sees it and wonders what the woman could possibly be grinning about.

Shepard whoops in triumph as a grenade blast rips apart a Geth rocket trooper. His spare slugs rocket off in all directions wiping out the remaining troops on the platform. "Come on!" She hollers sprinting into the smoke to the tram car's control panel. "We gotta get to the other platform."

The tram launches at incredible speed, and Kaidan suspects that is Shepard's doing. When the tram stops at the next platform they walk straight into a hailstorm of gunfire from geth troops.

"Why can't it ever be simple?" Shepard groans, dropping into cover she sends an overload down the platform hitting two geth, depleting their shields.

"Commander, Normandy here." Joker's voice comes across her radio.

"A little busy here Joker." She replies, shooting down two more troops, then ducking behind cover as a rocket spirals past her.

"You're about to get a lot busier. I have four nuke signatures that just lit up on my console. They've armed four bombs."

"You have got to be shitting me.." She swears.

"Sorry Ma'am. Downloading their locations and countdowns to your Nav. Joker out."

"Kaidan! Ashley!" She hollers at them "We've got nukes armed. Give me cover fire, one is just ahead. Go!"

They all break from cover firing a salvo at the enemy, forcing them behind cover. Shepard crouch walks low around a low partition and sees the long low cylinder of the bomb. She crouches by the controls and activates her omni tool. Thankfully these are low end security bombs. She and her omni tool make quick work of the override. It powers down, to be certain she yanks out the firing pin, pocketing it before signalling Kaidan and Ashley to press forward again.

One by one they press the geth back, and down. Eliminating the last of them Shepard crouches before the final bomb. Kaidan watches her disarm it. Noting the cool quick movements of her hand over the omni tool and is impressed by her skill. It makes a satisfying beep as she pockets the firing pin.

She stands up and turns, looking down the ladder to a shuttle pad. There is a tall tower structure there, the architecture alien and strange to her. "That's the beacon?" She asks Ashley.

"Yes Ma'am." Ashley steps forward to the ladder and drops down. Shepard and Kaidan follow. As they hit the ground a swarm of husks rush towards them.

"Son of a bitch." Shepard swears as they slaughter and mow down the horde. Once all the threats are eliminated, she removes her helmet as they step out towards the beacon. Stopping short she looks close at it. It's emitting a weird green glow wavering in the air around it.

"It wasn't doing that when they dug it up." Ashley peers close at it.

"It is now." Shepard turns away from the unnerving sight and radios the Normandy for extraction. Ashley turns around to watch their rear for any more attackers. Kaidan steps forward, transfixed by the swirling light. Mesmerized.

Shepard signs off and turns around in time to see Kaidan be pulled slowly toward the beacon. She runs and shoves him away. Standing for the briefest moment she turns her head before being yanked into the air.

Lights, images, screams. Pain. All over her body, blinding searing pain, the visions assault her, gaping maws, reaching metal fingers, a red haze, then fading away from a crescent eclipsed by a sun before she fades to black wreathed in pain

Kaidan gets to his feet and reaches out towards Shepard suspended in the air.

"No!" Ashley cries holding him back, "We don't know what it's doing to her. We could kill her if we grabbed her." They watch helplessly as Shepard arches back, her mouth open in a silent scream, her eyes wide, unseeing. Then the beacon explodes, throwing Shepard to the ground. They rush forward, Kaidan checks her pulse while Ashley radios Normandy to have Chakwas ready the infirmary.

"She has a pulse." Kaidan says, voice shaky, "It's weak, irregular."

The shuttle drops down. Ashley and Kaidan rush Shepard aboard, and they lift off for the Normandy.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: The chapters start getting longer now as we enter the citadel. There is just so much here, that I begin to go left of canon. But, fear not gentle maids and masters! The story you love so much is here. Just, tweaked. ;)

Anyways, as always Bioware owns all the glory.

* * *

Chapter seven

Black swirls and fades to grey as she comes back to her senses, she blearily opens her eyes.

"Doctor." she hears Kaidan call as she groans. "Doctor Chakwas, I think she's coming around."

Shepard swings her legs over the edge of the bed and sits up, hands combing back in her hair. Holding her head she rests her elbows on her knees. The pounding in her head digs knives into her mind.

"Commander." Chakwas' voice catches her attention. She looks into the woman's sensible grey green eyes. "You had us worried for a bit there. How are you feeling?"

"Like devils are dancing in my head?" It's phrased as a question, but Chakwas knows she's being sarcastic. "How long was I out?" Shepard levers herself off the bed, standing she leans against the foot of it. Arms crossed.

"You were out for fifteen hours. All seems good physically. I patched up the lesions on your arms, neck and face. You'll have some dashing scars for your pains. Your brain waves and neurological activity were off the charts. Reminiscent of someone with intense dreams."

"Intense is the right word." Shepard drops her head, thinking on what had plagued her. "Not sure if they could be called dreams though. A nightmare more like." She barks a harsh, humorless laugh, "Seemed more like a vision, a warning."

"What did you see?" Kaidan asks.

"Death, destruction." She shakes her head. "I dunno. It's all scrambled, incomplete."

"Hmm." Chakwas hums. Shepard turns to look at her, "Perhaps the beacon was damaged, or the blast severed the connection before all the information was transferred. Unfortunately we may never know."

"I'm sorry Shepard." Kaidan says. "It's my fault, I shouldn't have gotten so close. The beacon, it exploded. The blast knocked you out."

The door slides open, looking to the right, Shepard sees Anderson come in. She stands to attention. "Sir!"

"At ease." Anderson waves her back. "How's our XO Doctor?"

"Ready and able sir." Chakwas responds. "Though I recommend a day or two of rest."

"Sad to say she probably won't get it. I'd like to speak with the Commander in private."

"Aye sir." Both Chakwas and Kaidan reply before leaving the med bay.

"How are you feeling Shepard?" He asks, resting a hand briefly on her elbow.

"Fit and ready sir." she responds, soldier to her commanding officer.

"Lay off the formality. How are _you_ feeling Shepard?" The stubborn note to his voice teases a small lopsided grin from her.

She leans back against the foot of the bed again. "Like a bomb went off in my head sir."

Anderson chuckles a bit. "Glad to see your sense of humor is undamaged Shepard."

"You said you needed to speak with me, sir?"

"Yes, it looks bad. I won't lie to you. Nihlus dead. The beacon destroyed. A possible rogue Spectre? The Council is not going to like this."

"They'll have to listen to us. A colony was attacked. By the Geth! Led by a rogue Spectre."

"You see Shepard. It sounds far fetched, even to me. And I was there. What is the Council going to think? And Saren is one of their top agents."

"Then I'll kill him myself." She growls pushing away from the bed, her eyes glinting.

"It's not so simple. He's a Spectre. They're above the law. They can go anywhere, do almost anything. All in the name of maintaining galactic peace."

"Destroying a human colony is not maintaining galactic peace." She growls. Her tone full of danger.

"Saren believes that humans are a blight on the galaxy. If we knew why he was interested in the beacon, we might convince the council. Did you see something, anything around the beacon, labels of any kind?"

"Nothing like that, sir." Shepard leans back on one leg, arms crossed, her defensive position. "I saw a vision, a nightmare. It wasn't clear."

"We have tell the Council about this, it could prove important."

"No way in hell!" She hollers, "Sir." she amends. "They'll call me crazy." She waves her hand dismissively as she turns away from him.

"We'll figure out something. Ambassador Udina is trying to get us a hearing with the Council. We'll be at the Citadel in a few hours. Get some rest." She knows a dismissal when she hears one.

She snaps to attention and salutes. "Yes, sir." He turns and walks away as she relaxes her posture again.

Stopping at the door he turns back to meet her eyes, "It's good to see you up and about again." He leaves the medbay.

Shepard pinches her nose, trying to ignore the constant throbbing. She stumbles out of the medbay into her cabin. She collapses ungracefully onto the cot. Face down, one leg draped over the edge. "Goddess. make this go away." She moans into the pillow. It offers no relief nor answers. She turns roughly onto her back, kicking out at the bulkhead at her feet. It offers no comfort either.

Growling she gets up and paces her cabin. Six steps to the door, about face, six steps to the cot. Back and forth she paces. Turning the vision over in her mind, she tries to make sense of the fragments. Nothing works. The pacing takes her mind off the pain at least. Holding onto that feeling she exits her cabin. Giving up on rest. She spots Kaidan leaning against the bulkhead, talking to another lieutenant sitting in the mess.

Approaching Kaidan turns to her, "Commander." He says, snapping to attention.

"At ease." she says holding her hand up to wave him down. "Informal, please. I don't have the patience for formality right now. How are you holding up?"

"I'll never get used to seeing dead civilians. And losing Jenkins." He stops and shakes his head.

She rests a hand on his shoulder, "Soldiers die. Hazard of the job." Her attempt at levity gets a slight chuckle from him. "He died fighting. That's what matters. He's been returned to his family."

"Yeah. Thanks Shepard." Kaidan places his hand over Shepard's then lets go. She steps back. "Enough about me. How are you feeling? Any better?"

She forces a smile for him, "Well enough. The headache is fading."

He glowers at her, "You're a terrible liar, commander. As a fellow migraine sufferer, I can tell the signs."

She shrugs at him, "I'm dealing with it. Why do you have migraines?" She asks, concerned.

"It's nothing. Side effect of the biotic implant."

"Alright then." She steps back from him, "It was good to talk." She says.

He nods his head, "Thank you Shepard. Another time?"

"Yeah." she turns away and sees Ashley standing by the corner of the captain's cabin and the kitchen looking around self consciously. "You alright?"

"Hmm?" she turns toward Shepard, "Yeah, fine. What's up Commander?"

"Nothing much. Please, call me Shepard." Shepard turns to the side, "Walk with me?"

She looks surprised, "Sure, Commander, uh, Shepard." They walk around the crew deck and the CIC for a bit, just talking about missions and the like. Shepard casually introducing her to the crew members. She grins in triumph when Ashley gets into an animated discussion with Ensign Jacobs, the young woman from the quarterdeck watch.

Shepard puts her hands in her pockets and strides up to the bridge, whistling softly. Happy with the success of her plan to get Ashley comfortable with the crew.

She figures her whistles is enough warning for Joker as she steps into the cockpit.

"Good timing Commander." Joker says pointing up through the view windows. "We're about to hit the relay to the Citadel." The relay grabs the ship, surrounding it in blue white dark energy then throwing it out through time and space.

As they exit out the other side, dropping from dark space into the Widow system and nebula. The swirling purple and white gasses are always breathtaking to Shepard. As they approach the Citadel, Ashley and Jacobs enter the cockpit.

"Look at the size of that ship!" Jacobs exclaims.

"The Destiny Ascension." Shepard supplies, "The flagship of the Asari and citadel fleet."

"She's huge." The young woman breathes. Jacobs is leaning over the left side copilot seat, and Shepard can't help but admire her curves. A wicked lopsided grin lights her face.

"Size isn't everything." Joker quips from his seat.

"Feeling self conscious there Joker?" Ashley teases him.

"Surrounded by beautiful women and not a one of them looking at me. What a crime." Joker shakes his head in exasperation. "Citadel control this is the Normand SSV, requesting permission to dock."

A pause follows, "Request granted. Transferring you to an Alliance handler."

"Copy that."

"Alliance control. Normandy, you are cleared for docking, please use docking bay T8."

"Normandy out." Joker glides the Normandy into the arms of the Citadel.

"What a sight." Jacobs cranes around further over the chair to look straight up at the wards. Shepard's grin widens showing predatory teeth. It takes her mind off the persistent headache.

Ashley sees this and looks quizzically at her commander. Thinking, I would never have pegged her for a lesbian. To each his, or her, own. I suppose. To get the commander's attention away from Jacob's ass, and prevent a potentially embarrassing situation, she asks, "Shouldn't we be getting ready to meet Udina?"

Shepard's grin turns to a scowl as she catches Ashley's eye. Did she see? So what if she did. "Right. Time for the dance on knives with vipers." She growls as she heads below decks to change out of her NWU ship suit into her blue dress khakis once more. Best to look spick and span for the Council. At least these have more freedom of movement than her full dress blues.

She straightens her collar looking at herself in the mirror above her locker. Her face and arms have a latticework of angry red, half healed cuts. Chakwas was right. Most of them will scar well. Thankfully only one on her faces looks like it'll scar permanently. Cutting through her right eyebrow, across her nose, and ending at the edge of the left side of her mouth, it looks like a warrior's mark from ancient times back on earth.

"Oh, the ladies are just gonna _love_ that." She growls sarcastically as she exits her cabin for the airlock.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Got some left of canon for you this time around. A little look into the other side of Kelly. You can take the Colony girl outta the colony, you can't take the colony outta the girl.

Hat tips to Bioware for their glory.

* * *

Chapter eight

"How could you let this happen?" Udina whines in his nasally voice. The strain in it makes the accent even more grating on Shepard's still aching head. He has just finished with the Council trying to gain them a hearing. "Nihlus dead, the Beacon destroyed. Wild accusations of a rogue Spectre. You've gone too far Captain Anderson." The way he says Anderson's rank sounds like a viper strike.

Shepard can't take it anymore. "It wasn't Anderson's fault. Lay off you great prick!"

He rounds on her, his face purplish on color and contorted in anger. "You've made this worse with your antics. We'll be lucky if the council still considers you for the Spectres after this disaster."

"They'll have to see it our way. Saren killed Nihlus, it wasn't Shepard's fault." Anderson interjects.

"We'll discuss this at the hearing. Anderson, come with me. There are some preparations we need to do, try to salvage the situation." He looks disdainfully at Shepard, "I trust you can find your way to the Council chambers? I'll handle the guards to make sure you have clearance." He and Anderson turn out of the office without a backwards glance. Udina yattering in Anderson's ear.

"What a load of bull. And that's why I hate politicians." Ashley snaps.

"You and me both." Shepard heads out of the office. "Come on. We've got an hour before the hearing, and I need a drink."

"Aye, aye Commander." Kaidan calls with mock seriousness as they walk down the stairs from the human embassy offices and down to the lobby,

"Hello, welcome to the Citadel. Let me be your guide." An artificial voice chimes.

Ashley turns to look. "Hello. What's this?" She walks closer to the purple holo modeled on asari physiology.

"I am Avina. I am a Virtual Intelligence, programmed to help visitors navigate the Citadel." Its voice is unpleasantly chipper to Shepard. Made more so from her headache.

"Come on." She growls, pulling Ashley away from the VI. "It's a useless load of garbage."

Ashley tugs out of her grip, grinning. "Oohh, touchy touchy. What have you got against the VI?"

"Like I said. It's useless. And annoyingly chipper. I can learn more from observation and locals than from it." She quickly walks down to the lake's edge. She leans back on the rail, scanning the lower levels of the Presidium.

"What are you looking for?" Kaidan asks, stepping up beside her, then turning to look over his shoulder.

"I've never navigated to it from the Presidium." She murmurs. She then pushes off the railing and strides towards a lift down to the wards. "Here we go."

Ashley gives Kaidan a inquisitive look as they walk back past her. He shrugs his shoulders as Shepard enters the lift and they file in beside her.

"Where are we going?" Kaidan questions Shepard again.

The lift blurs the lights of the passing floors through its windows as it speeds down the shaft. "It's an old bar I used to frequent a lot. Called Murphy's Law. Great place."

Ashley raises an eyebrow at the commander. "With a name like that, 'Great' is not the first word that comes to mind."

Shepard chuckles, "You'll see." They exit the lift as it settles on the floor they want. Outside the streets are clogged with traffic, the lights are dimmer here, not as overly bright as the Presidium. A bright red neon sign hangs haphazard over top of a small building that looks like something that would be seen commonplace on Omega, not the Citadel.

"This is where you come off duty?" Kaidan coughs as they enter the bar. The atmosphere is thick with the scents of booze and cigar and cigarette smoke. "Who smokes on a space station?"

"The Citadel isn't like Arcturus. It's large and advanced enough the air won't ignite from the sparks." Shepard chides as she walks up to the bar.

"Shepard!" The big, burly bartender replies. If Ashley didn't know any better, she would swear the man had Krogan in him he is so large. "What brings you back my way? Long time no see." He reaches across the bar with a hand the size of a platter and cuffs Shepard across the shoulder, she stands firm and laughs.

"Been stationed on Arcturus these past six months. Haven't gotten out in awhile."

"That's a right shame. No good bars there."

"I found a decent one. Nothin' up to your standards."

He snorts. "I doubt that. You gotta have standards to start."

Shepard waves Kaidan and Ashley over. "Here, I want you to met my crew."

"You got a crew?" The man peers through the dim light, then seeing Shepard's commander stripes on her shoulders stumbles back, bellowing out loud, "Trickster bless me five ways to sunday! You done got yourself all respectable and the like!"

Shepard lowers her head, Ashley sees that Shepard is restraining laughter by the way she shakes her head. "I'm nowhere near respectable. Trust me on that one you great big oaf." She looks up, "Anyways, This is Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko."

They step forward to shake hands with the man.

"Bane," He introduces himself. "I'll let you know, you're already failing your jobs." Both marines cover shock with glares and hands reaching for pistols.

"Great goddess." Shepard swears, "Cool it. He was messing with you."

"You got quite the crew, little miss." He looks to the marines as they settle back, " Ain't ya s'posed to be keeping her out of danger? She's looking mighty hideous for having back up."

Kaidan ventures a smile at this man's forwardness, "She is rather hard to stay on top of. I heard something from Chakwas about you leaping before checking the landing, Ma'am?"

Shepard groans and pinches her nose as she looks down.

Bane guffaws in laughter, "You still haven't learned Shepard?" He claps her hard across her shoulder, this time she stumbles slightly to the right.

She steps up under his arm as it passes, twisting his wrist and pressing his elbow to the edge of the bar. The slightest pressure would break it, and his weight is working against him, she looks up at him. "Stop making me look bad." She growls. Kaidan is at first startled that such a friendly conversation changed so suddenly. But he sees the gleam in her eye, at the same time that Bane laughs again.

"Alright, missy. You got yourself a deal. And a round of drinks on me."

She grins as she releases his arm. "That's more like it."

He rubs absently at his elbow, "You coulda broken it." He gripes.

"Yeah but I didn't. Quit being a wuss." She swipes the three beers he pours off the counter, dropping a credit chip. "Come on, there's a table we can grab."

As they sit down Ashley swallows a healthy gulp of the thick beer. "Where'd you learn that grab? They don't teach that in basic."

"Some passing friends, before I joined the Alliance."

"That's a useful one to know." Kaidan remarks, he takes a drink of his beer. The medium body has something odd to it. Like, citrus, but not. "I shudder to think what other tricks you might have tucked away."

Shepard gets a faraway look in her eyes for the briefest moment, then a smile replaces it. "I don't have many more."

Ashley gulps half her beer down, "Good to know. I wouldn't want to get on your bad side."

"Its not _that_ bad." Shepard scoffs, she too downs half her beer. Kaidan envies them the ability to drink that much, that fast. He curses his biotic implants for yet another shortcoming. He takes another drink, quietly thinking.

Ashley and Shepard continue talking for the better part of the hour before Shepard remembers they are supposed to be in the hearing in twenty minutes.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." She swears under her breath. "Hey! Bane!" She hollers, jumping up and dodging through the throngs of customers to reach the bar.

"Whatcha need Shepard?" Bane shoulders past his other bartenders.

"What's the fastest way to the Council Tower?"

"What business you got there?" He asks skeptically.

"Never mind that. C'mon lad! Fast. We got twenty minutes, less than."

"Hmm. Best way is to take the transit a block down, get off at the Presidium Mass Relay stop. Tower should be a short walk away."

She claps him on the shoulder and half sprints out of the bar. Kaidan and Ashley hot on her heels.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: Early publish today. Gotta a long night of work ahead. Got some fun stuff, Udina being an ass, and Kelly enjoying a bar brawl.

Glory be to Bioware

* * *

Chapter nine

They stop at the top of the next to last steps to the Council chamber itself at the top. Two turians are arguing.

"Let it go Vakarian. Your investigation is over." One of them growls the order.

"Just give me more time, I was close to having something."

"You're out of time. Keep this up and they're going to bump you down to red eye shifts in the docks looking for smugglers. Just let it go, Saren is a Spectre, you'll never find anything. Let it go and save your career." That turian walks past Shepard, roughly banging her shoulder as he passes. She opens her mouth to snap, but closes it, shrugging her shoulder forward, irritated.

She looks over at the second turian, he's in c-sec uniform, a good pistol strapped to his hip.

"What do you want?" He growls barely glancing at her as he moves to walk past them.

She stops him with a hand to his shoulder. His muscles tense, making the hard scaled shoulder under her hand feel like a stone instead of a person. "You are the one in charge of the investigation into Saren?"

He turns around to look at her, then recognition dawns on his face, his mandibles clicking tensely. "Was. Garrus Vakarian is my name."

"I wish we'd be meeting under better circumstances. Did you find anything?"

"No, I didn't have enough time. Excuse me. I need to get going. The hearing has already started. And I need to get back to my duties."

She lets him walk away, thinking.

"Shepard!" Udina barks out. She turns to glare at him at the top of the stairs. "Get up here. The Council wants to speak with you." He turns and walks out of sight.

She looks at Kaidan and Ashley. "You guys stay here. I doubt anything useful will come out of this. It'll just be a waste of time."

"Aye Ma'am." They both salute then step back as she turns and goes up the stairs two at a time.

"You can't just dismiss all of this!" Udina cries. "You would step in if a Turian or Asari colony was attacked."

"We don't establish colonies on the fringes of the terminus systems." The asari Councilor says, not unkindly, but neither friendly. "Humanity was warned of the consequences."

"I fail to see why I am here." Saren says, the over large holo display of him looking menacingly down at them. Shepard notices he watches her more than any other person in the vast chamber. "The word of a single traumatized dock worker and the accusation of a human who has a prejudice against me? Hardly grounds for this. The hearing is a colossal joke." When he catches Shepard's eye, she swears she can see curiosity and contempt there. She glares hard at him.

Anderson speaks up, "What about the visions the beacon transmitted to Shepard?"

"Are we allowing dreams and fantasies to be submitted as evidence?" He says disdainfully, though Shepard once again sees he is looking at her, not the Council, or even the three humans together. Just her, and she sees something pass through his eyes, recognition, and something else. She can't pin it. "How can I defend myself against such antics?"

"Saren is right. We cannot allow wild speculation to be submitted as evidence. Unless you have more physical evidence to submit Ambassador?" Udina just shakes his head dejected. "What about you, Commander. Have you anything else to add?"

Shepard waves a dismissive hand at them. "What's the point?" she growls, "You've already made your decision. I can't change your mind."

"Very well. This Council finds Spectre Saren Arterius innocent of all charges."

"I am glad to see justice has prevailed. And may I add, I do not believe such a human as her," He looks pointedly at Shepard, "Should be admitted to the Spectres. Humanity is not ready for such a responsibility."

"That is not his decision!" Udina barks out, nearly yelling.

"With the death of Nihlus, that decision has fallen upon this Council. But that is not the subject of the hearing. You are all dismissed." The Councilors turn and walk back into their chambers behind the podium.

Saren looks once more at Shepard, his head twitches in the barest challenge to her, before the holo fades and shuts off.

"I should never have let either of you into this hearing." Udina snaps at Shepard and Anderson. "It was a glaring mistake. Him with his grudge and you with your temper. I amend my earlier statement. We'll be lucky if they don't throw you into jail for insubordination, Shepard. I think it's clear we can forget about you ever becoming a Spectre."

"We still have a chance, Udina." Anderson interjects. "We can find evidence against Saren."

"I could speak with the c-sec investigator who was in charge of the case. A turian, Vakarian. He seemed like he may have been close to something." Shepard suggests.

"C-sec?" Udina asks, "I know an officer who might be able to track him down. Harkin, he's got his ear to everything that goes down in c-sec."

"Forget Harkin." Anderson has a disgusted scowl on his face, "He's been suspended for drinking on duty. He's a disgrace. Spends all his time in that dive, Chora's Den."

"He might still be useful." Shepard says as they go down the stairs back to the antechamber where Ashley and Kaidan are waiting.

"If it's information we're looking for, we want the Shadow Broker." Anderson muses, "Barla Von, a volus in the financial district, he's an agent. He might know where to find Garrus, or he may know something else to help us."

"Alright, we'll take a look into those leads. Anderson, do you want to try Barla Von while we scout Chora's Den?"

"Absolutely not." Udina snaps, "Anderson, you are to go nowhere near this investigation. The last thing we need is for them to throw out anything we find because of your history with Saren. No, Shepard, you're on your own with this one." He turns and walks away.

When Shepard looks to object Anderson speaks up, "No, he's right Shepard. I can't be in on this. You can find me in the embassy if you need anything."

Reluctantly Shepard replies, "Aye, sir."

He reaches out and places a hand on her shoulder, "You'll do fine. And between you and me, give Udina as much insubordination as you like. The man can do with someone to dig that stick out of his ass." Shepard cracks a smile as Anderson turns and leaves.

"Where do we want to start Shepard?" Kaidan says as they enter the lift down the tower.

"Chora's Den sounds like a good place to be. I wanna get a look at this Harkin."

A few minutes later they are stepping into the bar. A large Krogan bumps into Shepard as they come in he out. "Watch it human." His voice is deep and seems to growl from within his chest. She shoves back then steps past him. She doesn't see the slight smile that tugs his mouth as he turns and leaves.

She steps up to the bar and waves over the bar tender. An asari comes over, unlike the dancers of her kind who wear next to nothing, she has on pants and a dark, form fitting sleeveless shirt.

"What will it be soldier?"

Shepard leans on the bar. "I'll take a whiskey, straight. And I'm looking for a c-sec man, Harkin."

"How hard a whiskey you wanting, babe?" She points behind Shepard, "You'll find that pig back there in the corner."

"Not too heavy, I'm still on duty."

"Course you are." She picks a bottle of Black Label and pours her a glass. "Anything for your silent shadows?"

Shepard turns around and sees Ashley and Kaidan waiting a few paces back, arms relaxed, but their stances are tense. She shakes her head, "I don't think so. They're more upstanding than I." She pays the bartender and gives her a couple extra creds tip, "Thanks for the pointer." Taking the glass she turns back to her squad.

"Bit early for whiskey, isn't it Shepard?" Ashley raises an eyebrow.

"I've a headache. Come on, our man is over here." It's not hard to spot Harkin. He's a pathetic waste of a man. Pale clammy skin, thin, greasy blonde hair, and glassy bloodshot eyes.

He turns to look up at Shepard. "Hullo there doll! Care for a drink with me? You can sit right here." He pats his lap.

Shepard sighs internally. Oh joy, a lazy, drunken pig. As if this day wasn't bad enough. "I'll pass. I need information, I'm looking for someone."

"I can be your someone. What are you gonna trade?" His eyes run slowly up and down her body, his face telling how pleased he is.

Ashley steps forward and grabs the scruff of his shirt nearly tipping his chair over as she forces him back into it, "Look here you arrogant, disgusting asshole. This is Commander Shepard, and you will show her all due respect." She shoves him back and lets go when Shepard grabs her shoulder.

"Cool it chief. He's not worth it." Shepard turns back to look at Harkin stand and brush himself off.

"Two girls with spunk and fire. I like that." He reaches out, intending to snake his arm around Shepard's waist. She rolls her eyes, dropping her glass she grabs his arm with her left hand, pulls him forward, then punches him square across the temple with her right hand. He crashes back into the table, sprawling across the top of it. "Now you've made me lose my drink." She glares as he tries to stand. His eyes wild, face flushed and a red knot beginning to swell on his temple.

"You really should just stay down." She warns him, all nonchalance.

"I'll show you, you fucking slut!" He lunges towards her. She grasps his shoulder, turning with his momentum to get him in a headlock, she punches him twice in his gut folding him over, cracking his nose against her knee. He goes tumbling to the ground, out cold. Shepard dust her hands off. "I told you to stay down." As she turns back to Ashley and Kaidan, Ashley grins wickedly, and Kaidan raises an eyebrow. It shows the atmosphere of the bar that the scuffle didn't even turn a head.

Shepard walks past her squad and out of the bar. "What a waste of time." She groans as they turn down a hall and take a transit up to the financial district. "Let's hope Von is easier to deal with, and has something for us."


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note:A longer chapter for you today. Heavy on action, not as far left of canon today. Kelly and crew enjoy an all out assault on Chora's den.

Bioware is the owner off all.

* * *

Chapter ten

"Yes Earth-clan." The Volus, Barla Von says. His short stature throws Shepard off, especially given he is standing on a platform behind his desk. "Vakarian can be found in the wards. Word is he is meeting with a doctor in the medical clinic. Another lead would be a krogan mercenary, he was hired by the Shadow Broker to eliminate Fist, the owner of Chora's Den."

"Why would the krogan have information about Saren?" She has never spoken to one before and his respirator is distracting to her.

"It is said that a Quarian came to Fist looking for protection. Said she had information she wanted to sell to the Shadow Broker concerning Spectre Arterius."

"What kind of information? Where can I find her?" Shepard finally feels like they are making progress.

"I do not know. She said she would only give it to the Broker. Fist set up a false meeting, sold the location to the Spectre. The Broker is most displeased. He hired the krogan to dispose of Fist."

"What about the Quarian? Isn't he going to protect her?" Kaidan leans forward anxiously to the volus.

"No one knows when the exchange will take place. Save for Fist, Saren, and the Quarian."

"Thank you." Shepard says to the volus as they turn and leave. "We need to find the Krogan, stop him from killing Fist just yet, then get to Garrus. Hopefully he can tell us how to get to Fist and get this mess straightened out."

They take a lift down to C-sec headquarters. It's not hard to find the krogan, he is conversing with one human c-sec officer while three others stand close by, hands on pistols.

"Come on Wrex. Can't you at least pretend to not be a killer for hire? Just once, it'd be nice to not having standing orders on my desk to detain you every time you step foot on the station."

The krogan, Wrex, chuckles. The sound is like thunder mixed with ocean tides. A deep rasping grunt of a chuckle. More menacing than when he just talks. Shepard is interested to see it's the same krogan that bumped her at Chora's Den. Was he scouting Fist's hideout?

He looks up from the officer, meeting eyes with Shepard, "I'd love to see you try to detain me." He steps past him.

"Oh go on then. Please try _not_ to cause a scene this time." The officer grumbles then walks away, the others disperse.

"Human." He growls, stopping in front of her. "Once is a chance meeting. Twice, that's not. What do you want?" Shepard can see him puff out his chest, and flex his muscles, his crest and back plates rising. He's trying to intimidate her.

She returns his glare, not wavering an inch. "I need to talk to Fist before you kill him. He has info I need to take down Saren."

"Ah, you are that human. Word is going around the station about you." He deflates a bit. Still an imposing hulk of muscle and armor. "I will allow you to speak with Fist. I still get to kill him when you're done."

"Deal. We'll help you get in, then you can kill him. First, we have to stop by the med clinic. There's a Turian in c-sec there who could help us."

Wrex grinds his jaws as he looks at Shepard. "Fine. He better not stop me."

"I'll make sure of it." She extends her hand to him, "Have we a deal? I lead, talk to Fist, and you will work with the turian, and get to kill Fist?"

He clasps forearms with her. "We have a bargain."

Shepard turns to Kaidan and Ashley, "I need one of you guys to go back to the Normandy. Too many of us in a pack will draw attention, and Chora's den will be tight fighting quarters."

"I'll go." Ashley says, "I'd rather not be in a brawl with a krogan and turian at my back." She strides off before Shepard gets a chance to reprimand her.

"I'm sorry." She turns back to look up at Wrex. "She's not normally so, rude."

Wrex smacks his fist into his hand, "Do not bother with me. I've heard worse."

"Right." Shepard walks to the stairs up to the wards. "Come on then."

"Why can't it ever be simple?" Shepard groans as she pinches the bridge of her nose, trying to shake away the headache.

"Why are you complaining?" Wrex laughs, "It was a good fight!"

She looks up and glares at him. "So says the krogan." Garrus has good skill, accounting for two mercs with one sniper shot, in close quarters. She was impressed. She turns to Garrus and the clinic doctor. "Do you know why these men attacked you?" She asks, looking around at the gang they had just slain.

"Fist sent them. Wanted to shut me up."

"What about?" Garrus asks, as Shepard goes to look at the bodies.

"He knew I'd helped the Quarian girl when she came to me. She had gotten roughed up when she first arrived. She told me she needed to get in touch with the Shadow Broker. I guess Fist thought I knew why."

"So he sends the goon squad for you, and an assassination ambush for the Quarian." Shepard stands up from one body, he was just a kid. Probly no more than fifteen. It twists her gut, the waste of it. "This Fist is a fool. He's got more enemies than he knows, and digging himself a deeper grave."

"If we're done coddling the doctor, can we get on with it?" Wrex growls, "Time is money, and we're wasting both."

"Alright." Shepard looks at the impatient krogan then at Garrus, "Care to join our merry band? We could use a man of your talents. I'll be honest, I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with a sniper."

"I can thread a needle to compensate for you then." His face lights with a smile. "I'd be happy to tag along."

"Wonderful. Let's go. I'm tired of dancing around, I need to shoot something." This startles a laugh from both Garrus and Wrex. Kaidan just shakes his head.

The trip to Chora's Den is a short one. Shepard momentarily regrets not having her armor on and hopes that these thugs have just as bad aim as the last batch. She looks to Kaidan and sees him raise a biotic barrier as a shield. She gives him a sarcastic scowl. Both Wrex and Garrus have armor on. Had she been thinking she would have at least put on a vest or something. Not just her uniform. If only her head didn't hurt so much, she might be thinking more clearly. Nothing to be done about it now.

They fan out around the door into the club. "We've got contacts on motion tracker, Commander." Kaidan reports. "Four at ten o'clock, one at twelve, and three at two."

She nods curtly, "Wrex, you've got two o'clock. Garrus, twelve. Kaidan and I will take the rest. Let's go!"

She hacks the door's locks, as they snap open they all duck, roll and, in Wrex's case, charges in. The battle is short, and according to Wrex, glorious. Shepard just glowers at him as she fastens a makeshift bandage to her left arm. A lucky shot had grazed the outside of her arm, level with her heart. She tries not to think about it. Instead calling herself all manner of stupid for neglecting armor, and continuing to curse the ache that plagues her head.

"How bad is it Commander?" Kaidan asks as he steps close to look.

"It's fine. Just a graze. Come on, Fist is through that door." She looks to Wrex and raises one eyebrow, "Are we going to have problems here?"

"I respect our deal Shepard. You may ask your questions first." He hefts his shotgun lightly in his hands. Garrus ships his sniper and switches to an assault rifle.

He nods at Shepard as she ties off the bandage. "Alright there?" He asks.

"Fine." She crouches in front of the door. Hacking this lock is a little more difficult, but nowhere near being out of her skill level. It pops open. As they flood into the room, two heavy turrets come to life and rain fire down on them.

"You've gotta be kidding me." She growls, the barrage and noise causing her already aching head to pulse with white hot pain. As Garrus claims one turret, Wrex and Kaidan account for the other.

Shepard stands and walks toward the pathetic man sprawled on the ground in front of her. "You have a lot of people very angry with you. Tell me what I need to know, and I might spare you."

He glares at her, then his face pales when he sees Wrex. "Aw come on. Why all this fuss over one lowly Quarian. It's not like anyone is going to miss her. And Saren paid me three times what the Shadow Broker does."

"Where is the meeting taking place, when?"

"Come on, why would I tell you that? Could be my only saving grace." Fist comments as he stands brushing himself off.

"I doubt it. Start talking or I start shooting." Shepard shows no remorse or doubt about what she is prepared to do.

"You don't intimidate me!" He cries out, "I have powerful friends!"

"Who've all already deserted you. Give it up asshole."

His lips lock tightly shut. She rolls her eyes in exasperation. Then lowers her pistol and fires into his kneecap.

"Fuck!" He swears, dropping to a kneel, holding the wounded knee. "What the hell? You said you'd spare me."

"Doesn't mean I can't hurt ya, just not kill you. Talk." He clamps his mouth shut again. "Very well then." She lowers her pistol to point at his other knee.

"Wait, please. The meeting is in the access corridor to the Wards' apartments, it'll happen in five minutes. Go left at the transit, you can't miss it."

"See that wasn't so hard." She turns and steps away from him. Nodding to Wrex as she passes.

"Wait." He cries out. "You said you'd spare me!" His complaints are swallowed by a shotgun blast and his own gurgle as he dies.

Shepard turns and looks back at him. "I did spare you. You idiotic fool." They all leave the office to return to the bar room. And walk straight into another barrage from more goons.

"Gods bless it." She grumbles. "Never goes smooth. How come it never goes smooth?"


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. I'm on day two of a seven day restaurant serving work week. So I'll do my best to update everyday. That means it could be two in the afternoon or two in the morning. I'll do my best.

Today, Kelly gets into a fray, meets a new friend, and annoys Udina some more.

Bioware is my gods for their glorious ideas.

* * *

Chapter eleven

Her right shoulder jerks back as a round connects squarely. "Bastard!" She cries, leveling her pistol, she fires twice into the shooter. One takes him in the heart, the other in the eye. She kneels down, ripping apart a shirt from a downed attacker. She folds it into a pad and then ties the bandage around her shoulder to hold it in place.

"Chakwas is gonna be pissed." She mutters, standing back up and helping Garrus and Wrex eliminate the remaining two enemies.

Kaidan steps up beside her to inspect her shoulder. "You need medigel, Commander."

"I'll be fine. We need to get to the quarian." She puts a hand on his shoulder. "I'll survive, promise." She steps past him and looks to the other two. "Lets go."

As she steps out the door, the rest fall in behind her. The access corridor they are looking for is an easy find. Tucked in the corner beside the transit port. She opens the door and slides inside. The corridor is long and dimly lit by red glow lights and white spot lights. Steam and water vapor cloud the air. She can just make out the quarian in a spotlight fifty feet away. She is holding her elbow nervously, looking around the hall.

A human man steps out of the shadows and approaches her. "You Tali?" He asks gruffly.

"Who are you?" She may look nervous, but her voice is firm.

"The Broker sends his regards."

When the man reaches for her arm she slaps it down and backs away. "This isn't right. The deal's off." She keeps backing up.

"Come on love, don't be that way." The man croons. When Tali doesn't return he flicks two fingers, signaling. Two human women in skin tight, black body suits, and hoods step out of the shadows. One draws out a long knife, the other a small, silenced pistol. Tali flings a hand out, a flash bang rolls across the floor. In the confusion and blinding white light, Shepard sees the quarian slip behind some crates nearby for cover. Signaling her squad up, Shepard rolls her own grenade into the smoke. Taking cover across the hall from her. She gives the girl a quick nod. As the smoke clears, all five of them unload on the dazed assassins. Their resistance is minimal at best.

Shepard offers a hand up to the quarian. "You alright there?" Shepard finds it odd to look at her faceplate and not see her face. The only sign of a person inside is the glint of light off of her eyes. The rest of her face is hidden by the curve of the glass, perfectly reflecting the light to hide her. Her suit completely covers her body. The material both like fabric and armor. A beautiful mesh of both. The hood that covers her head is of the same material.

"Yes, thank you. Who are you?"

"Shepard. Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance."

"I'm Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"Nice to meet you. We've been looking for you. I'm trying to build a case against Saren. I need to expose him for the traitor he is."

"I am glad you found me. I don't know if I could have taken all three of them alone. I'd be happy to help you. Obviously the Shadow Broker was the wrong person to approach."

Shepard turns and waves for Tali to walk beside her. She is aiming to return to the Embassy. "Not so much the wrong person, just the wrong agent. He was greedy, and most likely already in Saren's pocket."

"I think I'd still rather place my trust in you." Tali moves along beside Shepard keeping even pace. "Do you always walk with an entourage?" She looks behind them nervously.

"Not usually." Shepard looks back and has to resist a smile. Kaidan is walking two paces back from her, Garrus and Wrex side by side. Each talking animatedly to the other about the battles. Kaidan smiles at her, but it doesn't reach his eyes.

"What's on your mind?" She asks him, slowing down for him to catch up.

"How are you doing?" He nods towards her injuries. The arm bandage shows the smallest blot of blood soaking through. The shoulder one is in a bit worse shape. For once, she is glad for her head's constant ache, it's kept her mind off the throb in her shoulder and the palm sized blot of blood seeping through.

She gives him a wry smile. "Well as ever. Don't fret. we're almost back to the embassy."

"You should be going to the hospital." His face shows his concern, his voice is almost demanding, "Ma'am." He remarks, respectfully.

"I'm not that bad off." Seeing his glare not let up, she relents a bit. "Alright, I'll call for a medic to meet us at the embassy, and subject myself to his care. Will that do?"

His glare softens a bit as he thinks on it, "Fine. I guess that's the most compromise I'm going to get."

"Damn straight" she jokes. Their conversation had lasted long enough for them to have reached the lift to the presidium.

"Is your injury serious?" Tali asks, gently touching Shepard's shoulder, turning the formidable commander to face her.

Shepard jerks out of her hold. "I'm fine. It's not that bad."

Tali grips her tighter above the wound. "Let me look. Quarians are good field medics as well as engineers. We have to be."

"I doubt you get much experience with human physiology." Shepard quips.

"No, but a bullet to the shoulder is the same for most bipedal species." Shepard is impressed by the girl's tenacity. She wasn't expecting that. "Do you mind if I remove the bandage? You'll need a new one soon regardless."

"Can it wait till we get to the embassy? We're almost there." She pulls gently out of the girl's hold, as the lift stops. She doesn't give her time to answer as she disembarks the elevator. "It's just up this way." She turns right, leading her motley crew down the halls of the Presidium. Tali scowls inside her helmet. But relents to the more stubborn woman.

Kaidan touches her shoulder, stepping close enough for Shepard not to hear. "I've called for our ship's doctor to meet us. She's very good." Tali nods. Thanking Kaidan as they mount the stairs up to the humans' embassy Ambassador's office.

"Getting into trouble as usual, Commander." Chakwas greets them as the group enters the office.

Shepard stops dead at seeing the woman, arrayed with a case full of supplies. The others file past her, save Kaidan who stops just off her right shoulder. She glares at him, "I said a _medic._ Not our bloody doctor! I'm not that bad off."

Kaidan's only reply is to place his index fingers on her shoulders and push her forward. The right side lights up in pain. She gasps involuntarily and clutches at it.

Chakwas tuts as she steps up, half catching the commander. She guides her to the chair that's slightly reclined. When Shepard stays standing, glaring at the older woman. Chakwas' only response is to place a firm hand on her shoulders and push her down into the chair.

"I knew I was picking a stubborn XO when I chose you, Shepard." Anderson steps out from the back room of the office, Udina following. "I never expected exactly how stubborn." His eyes gleam with amusement, and he has a wicked grin on his face. Shepard merely scowls at him.

"Hello there miss." Udina steps forward, extending a hand to Tali. "How are you, my dear? I'm Ambassador Udina." Shepard is shocked. She never thought that man could sound anything but annoyed or pissed. Certainly not kind and, was he flirting with Tali?

She jerks painfully as Chakwas cuts away the bandage. Some of the blood had clotted enough to grasp the bandage to the wound. "Shit, doc. Aren't you supposed to be gentle?" she snaps. Turning to look at the wound. Her shoulder looks like someone tore out a chunk of it. Three inches in diameter, it looks like hamburger meat. She isn't normally squeamish. But seeing her own shoulder so tore up, the bottom drops out of her stomach. Blood begins to pulse out, in time to her heartbeat.

"Son of a-" She whispers, gritting her teeth to the pain that has returned. "How the hell have I not felt it?"

Chakwas presses her back into the chair, reclining it further. Tipping Shepard to a forty-five degree angle. "Forget about how did you not feel it. How are you still conscious? This much damage should drop any soldier." She injects her with a syringe.

"I had more important things. What was that?"

"Just a local anesthetic. Don't worry, I won't put you under, just yet." She goes to work, staunching the blood flow with a quick tourniquet. She begins cleaning out the would. Pulling out the remnants of Shepard's uniform and shrapnel of the wound.

"Not ever. I've got more important things to do. Fix it enough so I can use it. I'll submit to whatever you want once we get back aboard the Normandy."

Chakwas starts to object, but catches Anderson's eyes, he shakes his head. "Very well then. I'll get the debris out, pack it with medigel and gauze, then wrap it. I do _not_ want you using that arm until I get it taken care of fully. That's an order commander."

Shepard nods, looking away from Chakwas, she focuses on her team, just in view to her left. "What have we got? Tali?"

Tali looks to Shepard. "I found a damaged Geth, and retrieved his memory core."

"I thought they wiped those when they were damaged?" Kaidan interrupts.

"They do. I was able to salvage this from its audio bank."

Saren's voice plays out of her omni tool. _"Eden Prime was a major victory. It has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."_

A woman's voice plays out next, _"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." _The recording ends.

"What was that about 'The Conduit' and 'Reapers'?" Udina asks, confusion on his face.

"I'm not sure." Tali says, turning off her omni tool. "From what I can learn from the unit. The Reapers are like gods the Geth worship."

Shepard tries to sit up and Chakwas pushes her back into the seat. "Just because you can't feel it, doesn't mean I'm done here." She scolds.

Shepard gives her a dirty look and turns back to Tali, "The Geth are synthetics. AIs, how can they worship something?"

"I don't know. I just know they revere the Reapers as the 'Old Machines'. It seems to be of great importance."

Anderson gives Shepard a condescending look for her repeated attempts at escaping Chakwas. "We need to get this to the Council."

"I'll see if I can get us an audience with them, as soon as possible." Udina turns away and back into the bowels of the office.

Chakwas takes Shepard's right arm, bends it over her chest and secures it in a sling. "Alright, you can get up now. If I hear of you taking that sling off to so much as lift a glass. I will knock you out then and there. Then I'll bind it to you for good." The woman gathers her tools and leaves.

Anderson turns to address Shepard, "If you have any lingering errands to do. Now would be the best time to do so. It may take awhile to contact the Council, let alone get an audience. Take care of that arm. Or I'll lock you in the brig after Chakwas is done with you." He turns and follows Udina.

Shepard turns to her team. "If you guys want to bunk on the Normandy while we wait, you're welcome to. Unless you have more pressing things here." When no one chooses to stay, save for Kaidan. She looks to him. "If that's that. Lieutenant, would you kindly escort our guests to the Normandy and be sure they get settled?"

Even phrased as a question, Kaidan knows it's an order. He allows himself one scowl towards his commander before he salutes, "Aye Ma'am."

As he leads everyone from the office. Shepard sighs in relief. Finally alone. Of course, without others to keep her mind occupied, the pain in her head returns to the forefront of her thought. She turns out of the office. Determined to find a bar and drink the afternoon away.


	12. Chapter 12

Author's Note: Here we are. Today's chapter is a bit of fun. Canon plot/mission with left of canon dialog.

Enjoy!

praise be to bioware

* * *

Chapter twelve

She finds no relief from the pain on her brisk walk to the lobby. Trying to decide where to go. She is interrupted from her fuming by an dark skinned man calling out to her.

"Excuse me. Commander. May I have a moment of your time?" She is surprised by the heavy middle eastern accent. With the melting pot of the races and cultures that humanity has become, not very many have such distinct traits anymore.

"Um, yeah. What can I do for you, sir?" She steps closer to him.

"Thank you." He bows slightly to her, "My name is Samesh Bhatia. I know you must be busy. but my wife, Nirali. She was in the 212 on Eden Prime."

Shepard bows her head briefly, "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you. My problem is, the Alliance will not return her body to me. They claim it is classified, and they need her for research. I cannot give her the final rites if I do not get her remains. Please, if there is anything you can do."

"Do you have a contact here on the Citadel?" She rubs absently at the back of her neck.

"Clerk Bosker, he is in the expensive embassy bar upstairs. He will not listen to my requests."

She lays her left hand on his shoulder, "I'll see what I can do. There's no reason for them to keep her body from you."

He bows and steps back. "Thank you commander. I shall wait here for your return."

She nods, then turns away. As she walks up the far steps she wonders to herself. How do I keep getting into these messes?

It is not hard to find Bosker. He is the only uptight, rigid Alliance man in a bar full of relaxed soldiers off duty. She steps up to the man. He is a civilian liaison she sees, carrying no rank or file on his uniform. "Clerk Bosker?" She inquires politely.

He turns to look at her, his eyes widen in recognition. "Commander Shepard." He sounds just as surprised as he looks.

"I'm here on behalf of a Mr. Samesh Bhatia. He is requesting that his wife's body be returned to him."

"Oh no." He lowers his head into his hand as he pinches his nose. "Look, I'm sorry that he's dragged you into this. But there is nothing I can do. Serviceman Nirali Bhatia's injuries are inconsistent with any known weapons."

"Is she contaminated?" Shepard is confused and bothered by this whining civilian. "Is that why her body has not been released?"

"No. We are holding the body for research purposes. With all due respect, Ma'am-"

She interrupts him, "Don't you dare say that. You might as well say 'fuck you' to my face." She tries to keep control of her temper. She really is trying to handle this politely.

He clears his throat, taken aback by her retort. "Well, um, Ma'am. As I was saying, Serviceman Nirali Bhatia may save more lives in death than in her life."

There goes the temper, she surges forward, picking him up by his shirt in her left hand, she raises him a good three feet up. "Now you listen to me, you listen good and hard. She died so that others may live, not to be a lab rat in some Alliance R&D room. We are not out here fighting and dying so you pansies can make a tiny advancement for every ten of us. _I_ am out here trying to save your sorry ass." He pales significantly under her glare.

She lowers him to the ground. "You _will_ release Service Woman to her family, and you _will_ be sure her husband is provided for." he nods emphatically. "If there are any other spouses, mothers, fathers, or any soldiers with families ready to claim their bodies. You will release them as well. We cannot sacrifice our humanity just to earn an edge on the battlefield."

He steps back, away from her, and fetches up against the wall. 'With all due-" He stops what he was about to say in light of the glare she gives him. He gulps, "Er, um. Respectively Ma'am. You do not have the authority, to, to issues such orders." He tries to puff out his chest, regaining some composure, he looks like an irate pigeon. "You are not my commanding officer."

"You don't want to play this game with me boy. Just release the body. Or so help me I will send you to the ass end of the galaxy scrubbing heads for the rest of your career. I have connections and it would not be hard to do." She leans in close, her nose less than an inch from his. "Have we an understanding?"

He shakily nods his head. The air sighing out of him in defeat. "Yes, er, yes Ma'am. I'll just be telling Mr Bhatia now." He slides out from in front of her. Then scurries down the stairs.

She rubs her left hand across her face. "Gods above." she mutters. She goes up to the bar. "Please tell me you have a good strong human whiskey." She tells the bartender.

He smiles kindly at her. "Long shift, miss?" He pulls out a bottle of deep amber liquid.

"Something like that." She takes the glass as he hands it to her. "Thanks." She flips him some credits then angles herself to an empty table in the dark corner. The seat she chooses faces away from the bar, overlooking the Presidium.

She sips on the whiskey, it's very good, smooth with just the right amount of oak flavor from the barrels. So many modern distillers use a smoked wood additive to give the flavor. It never tastes right. Just weak and half hearted. This glass has the true flavor. She wonders if the bartender might know where she could buy a bottle, or two. If this ache doesn't subside soon, she might need them.

"Did you actually get to see her? The Consort?" She hears one of the Alliance privates at the table nearby exclaim.

"Is she really as gorgeous as they say?" Another pipes up excitedly.

Another chuckles, "You guys are a bunch of saps. Of course he didn't actually see her. You gotta have some serious cash for that."

"I tell ya!" one says defensively. "I honestly did. Gramps gave me a gift as well as my bonus for the month. I had just enough to get a session with her."

The doubter snorts. "Sure you did. What was it? Ten minutes? Fifteen?"

"Quit being a downer Dan. The bonus was plenty good enough to put him close." She hears a scuffle behind her, and she can just imagine one soldier shoving the other. "Is she really six feet tall?"

"Does she really have purple skin?"

'What about the, you know, tentacle, thingies? Were they hard?" The questions come like bullets from a machine gun. Shepard can't help a chuckle. Boys will be boys. And these sound like they're fresh out of boot.

"Ha!" The doubter laughs. "You said 'hard.'" he snorts again. Shepard hears the scuffle noises again and the doubter holler just before hitting the ground.

"Oh shut it." the one who said he'd been to see the consort, quips. "Yes, she really is nearly six feet tall. Yeah, her skin is so dark it's almost purple. I think that one of her acolytes said that's typical of Asari matriarchs. And no, they aren't hard. More soft, flexible."

"You're so full of shit." The doubter says. She hears more sounds of a scuffle. She gets a second's warning of one of them hollering 'Whoa!' before he slams into the back of her chair. Her drink goes clattering across the table, then crashes against the floor. Her and the soldier go tumbling to the floor.

She gets up, pulling the private to his feet. "You alright there, Private?"

He brushes himself off, brushing at his uniform. "Whoa, yeah, thanks." He looks up at her. 'Ah! Oh. Um, commander!" He snaps to salute.

She returns his salute, "At ease." A smile comes to her face, "Off duty marines can enjoy informalities."

He chuckles and relaxes, "Aye Ma'am. We sure can."

She extends her hand to him, "Name's Shepard." She says.

He is slightly taken aback at her name. "Oh, Shepard, Commander!"

"Take it easy kid. I've had my fill of hero worship for today. Keep it casual."

"Aye Ma'am." He says, "Name's Dylan, ma'am. Dylan Reed. Would you care to join us? I can repay you for your drink. Sorry 'bout that."

"Sounds good." She follows him to their table and has a seat.

"What are you drinking, ma'am?" Dillon asks as she leans forward to the table.

"Whiskey. Dark, human Whiskey." She sees him gulp at the expense of her drink. Grinning she flips him a cred chip. "I'll take an inside view of your talks of this asari Consort for repayment." Dylan nods and hurries off.

"Barking expensive tastes, Ma'am." A British soldier says, She hadn't heard him before. She looks to this one. He's older than the others, at least thirty, if not older, a sergeant's badge on his shoulder. He's reclined back in his chair, tipped on two feet, his right boot propped against the table.

"Got a nice pocket with a new promotion." She shrugs. She accepts her drink from Dylan as he returns. "So, who is this Consort? I've never heard of her."

"Must not get to the Presidium much, ma'am." the brit says. He blows a cloud of smoke from his cigar.

"Not particularly. Murphy's Law is my normal hangout."

"Ah, Ward's girlie has come to the high rollers." The man scoffs, dropping the chair to all fours he snuffs his cigar, downs the last of his drink. "Go back home, and don't come to the big leagues, less you know what you're doing." He gets up and ambles out.

Shepard glares at his back. "He usually that charming?" She remarks turning back to the others.

"Yep. He's an old fart that never moved up in the ranks. Keeps bragging he's going back to Earth. Git has yet to actually leave." This is the doubter from before.

"So, this Consort." She starts up again, "Who is she?"

"Only the most gorgeous woman in existence." A young blonde boy sighs.

Dylan jabs him with his elbow. "Knock it off dolt." He turns to look at Shepard, "Yeah, she is that pretty. Smart too. She's got this wise air about her. Like she almost omnipotent."

"What does she do?"

One boy snorts out, "You." before him and his neighbors on either side collapse laughing.

Dylan glares hard at them. "She, well. Her acolytes say that she is something different for each person."

"What was she for you? If you don't mind my asking."

He blushes, "Well, she was kind. Like a mother. Gave me some great advice."

"Aw!" Doubter waves his arm dismissively. "I knew you didn't see her!"

Dylan throws a balled up napkin at him, "I did too you ass!"

"Where does someone go to see her?" Shepard is intrigued by this woman.

"You don't just go in. You gotta make an appointment. The amount of creds given is what determines your placement."

Shepard finishes her drink and sets the glass down. "Thanks. I think I might go pay her a visit."

Dylan stands up sharply and snaps a salute. Shepard returns it and turns to leave.

She hears the doubter jab at Dylan,

"Ha, the commander is gonna get some from that asari and you couldn't."

"Knock it off Shapre, that was Commander Shepard."

"Yeah right. Why would she come in here? You're so full of shit." She walks out of earshot grinning.


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note: I have a really fun chapter for you guys this time. It's pure femslash and shmexyness. So with that in mind, If you are uncomfortable with even _remotely_** explicit sex** scenes, then turn away now.

If not, then enjoy!

love be to bioware

* * *

Chapter thirteen

"Oh, yes miss." The asari acolyte in front of Shepard is entirely too chipper for her tastes. "It will be at least six months before the Consort will be able to see you."

"That's ridiculous. What is worth a six month wait?"

"She is a very talented woman. Of course, most of our clients won't get to see the Consort right away, so we are here to be sure they are pleased nonetheless."

Shepard can't help but raise one eyebrow, "Oh?" She questions.

"Oh yes." the woman ducks her head in a happy nod, "My specialty is my hands. I can find every tension point on the body."

"Are you available?" Shepard asks. That sounds enticing, might even help her head.

The woman giggles, "Sad to say no. I don't have any openings for another month."

Shepard drops her head to pinch her nose. "I can't win today." She groans then looks up, "I'll just be leaving then. Thanks anyway."

"Of course." She woman giggles again. "I hope you decide to return." Shepard just waves weakly behind her as she starts back up the stairs from the Consort's place.

"Excuse me?" the receptionist calls out. Shepard turns to look back at her, "It would appear the Consort has made time, she would like to see you."

Shepard's eyebrow raises again. "Really? That's odd," She steps back down to the desk.

"Very much so. She's right upstairs. Just at the end of the hall."

"Thanks." Shepard walks down the hall, through the anteroom filled with other acolytes and clients. The stairs at the other end are long and narrow, but lit warmly with soft blue white glow strips along the ceiling and floor. She turns into the room at the top of the stairs.

"Hello there Commander." A tall Asari matriarch in a long dress, cut low across the chest with a high collar, is standing in the middle of the room. "Greetings, welcome."

Shepard steps further into the room. Her eyes linger momentarily on the large bed set in the left hand corner, before roaming across the room, a desk holds place in the right hand corner. A couch, lounge chair, and table take up the center of the room.

"Right then. Hi." Shepard steps into the room and towards the couches the asari indicates. Suddenly she feels very self conscious. Of her hair that is half out of its ponytail, leaving trailing locks across her shoulders and brushed carelessly from her face. The cuts on her arms and face seem to her like they glow painfully, a glaring point of ugliness. There is something about this woman and her soft yet piercing violet eyes that unnerves her.

"Would you for some tea, or perhaps wine, something stronger?" the Consorts' voice is very soft and mellow, a soothing voice.

"Wine, please." Shepard says, pushing away her uneasiness. Accepting a glass of red wine from the Consort Shepard sits. Perched on the edge of the couch, she sips the wine "May I ask why you sought me out?"

"Direct, and to the point." The Consort smiles, "There is something about you. A feeling. Destiny has touched you, young woman."

Shepard can't help the snort that escapes her. "I'm sorry. Don't get me wrong, I believe in my gods, and their powers. But fate? Destiny touched? I doubt it. I do the best I can with what I've got." She takes a drink off the wine, it's very good. Heavy and tart. The way she likes.

"Oh, you've been touched my dear. And not just by your Trickster. The Goddess has her eye on you."

"How can you know? And what do you know of my gods? Don't the asari have their own religion?"

She smiles, kindly, warmly. "We do. But I make it my business to know other races beliefs. I must say, Humanity has given me the largest challenge yet. So many conflicting religions and beliefs."

"You have no idea." Shepard smiles in return. Finding this woman easy to talk to. "I was raised pagan by a preacher's daughter. There's conflict for you."

"I can only imagine." The Asari shifts forward in her seat, closer to Shepard. "Where do you see your life going, Shepard?"

"I don't know. Right now, I can't think past capturing Saren. And even that is still a remote possibility."

"This is only the beginning of your journey, I fear for you." The woman sounds forlorn.

"Fear? Journeys are adventures. Good things. What's to fear?"

"I will give you this advice Shepard. Your journey will take you through dangerous waters, it will be filled with love and joy, to be equally balanced with pain and hardships. You come from exceptional lineage and circumstances, and you do them credit. Stay true to yourself and you will always return to where you belong. This road has been laid out before you by time itself and your Trickster dances a merry jig on the path of your life."

Shepard feels like the air has gotten twice as heavy with each word she speaks, like the gods are breathing through this woman. She tries to lighten the feeling, "I'm used to the Trickster in my life. He and I have an understanding."

"There will be a love for you to come. She will be youth, beauty, innocence, and yet strength, power, and grace. You must learn to love again Shepard. You must let yourself love. She is worth it." The woman slides ever closer to Shepard, leaning close she whispers in her ear, "I can teach you."

The whisper is more than just in Shepard's ears, it slides across her whole body, raising shivers and pleasure in its wake. She forces herself to cough, and clear her throat. "I, I am just fine. On, on my own." Gods above! She thinks wildly. She wants to back up, get away. But her body won't let her. Something about this woman in front of her, pulls her in welcoming.

The Consort slides her hands up Shepard's body, one on her arm, the other caresses her face, "It's time to stop running." She gently lifts Shepard's chin to meet her eyes.

Violet eyes meet hungry amber eyes, "Aw to hell with it." Shepard swears, grasping the asari's head she pulls close and kisses her fiercely.

The consort stands Shepard up, holding each other tight she guides her to the bed, clothes quickly find the floor. Shepard relishes in the smooth skin of the asari. Like the softest, most supple leather. Her hands explore every inch they can find. She is mildly aware of the sling as it hits the ground and the pangs from her shoulder wound, but there is so much pleasure all over that she doesn't care.

The asari lays her on the bed and pulls back. The Consort looks down at her, Shepard can see the hunger in her eyes mirrored there. She runs her fingers up the asari's stomach, playing them over her breasts. They are soft, tender, and firm. A grin lights up her face as she draws the asari down to her. Trailing kisses around her breasts, she moves in close on the hardened nipples, taking one in her mouth, she nips it ever so slightly. The Consort rolls her shoulders, pushing closer to Shepard before rolling the human over on top of her. She lowers her hands down the woman's shoulders, down her sides, and pulls her close by the hips.

Shepard chuckles, then slides one of her hands behind the asari's back. She begins to slowly massage the tender spot for a human, and is rewarded for her curiosity when the asari's body responds in kind, more intensely than a human's. She kisses the woman softly on the mouth, her right hand snaking up behind the asari's head to rub at her crest. A small part of her mind notes that Dylan was right. These are soft, and flexible, like fingers, but not.

The consort returns Shepard's affections and massages her on the back. Shepard's hands freeze for a breath as she gasps. Fire racing all over her body, crippling her, but goddess, in the best way possible.

Slowly the asari works her into bliss, each touch sending waves through her body. Her pulse quickens. Shepard slides her leg between the consorts, pleased by the moisture that is slick there. With each pulse against her back, she pushes into the woman below her. She doesn't know which of the cries is hers, and which are the consort's. Their tempo picks up, more and more fevered. When the release comes. It feels like a wave crashing over rock cliffs at the shore, powerful and all at once. Sending her mind reeling into bliss.


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note: This is the first of my Friday gift for you. Two chapters! Huzzah.

I know, I love you too.  
This chapter is fun. Shepard doges her one night stand, a fan, and a reporter.

Enjoy!

Bioware owns all.

* * *

Chapter fourteen

A ringing chime sounds, waking Shepard from a sound sleep. She blinks bleary eyes, Looking up from the bed. She's laying on her stomach, right arm pressed under her, the other stretched out in front of her. She can feel her legs are intertwined with the Consorts'.

The chime goes off again. She drops her head to the bed. The chime switches to a shrill beeping. She groans, and looks around for the source. Her omni tool, discarded earlier, is laying in the floor about four feet away. It's glowing red and beeping incessantly. She shifts her weight, trying to free her right arm, then has to bite the bed to muffle a yell as pain shoots through her arm.

She sighs heavily then quickly twists over out off the asari's hold. This puts her on her back. No nearer to the damned tool than before. Thankfully, it appears the Consort is a deep sleeper. Shepard rolls out of the bed, then stands. Two strides put her at the tool. Kneeling down she carefully bends her right elbow to press her arm close to her chest. Then grabs the tool and slides the band on her right wrist. The beeping changes in tone again. Softer now that she is wearing the tool. She toggles the icon for an incoming call, noting that there are five previous calls, and that the time is oh five thirty. The call is coming from Anderson. Not wanting to fish for clothes right this moment, or explain her nakedness, she answers the call audio only.

"Shepard." Anderson sounds both relieved and frustrated. "Where are you? What happened?"

She closes her eyes, searching for an answer suitable, when none comes she answers, "I am in an apartment on the presidium. Why?"

"Udina received a reply from the Council. They will see us at oh eight hundred. We need you at your best Shepard. How's that arm?"

She looks at her shoulder, there's no sign of blood coming through, though it aches plenty. "Well enough, sir."

"There's no time for Chakwas to do her surgery. It'll have to wait."

"Aye sir."

"We'll need you to report to the Normandy. Did you bring your dress blues from Arcturus?"

"Yes sir. I'll be leaving now. Where do I need to meet you?"

"Just meet us in the antechamber to the Council room." He logs off and her omni tool fades. She looks up at the bed, glad to see the Consort still asleep. She's not sure what she could say to the woman. One nighters being her specialty, Shepard has always managed to get away before the other party wakes. She quietly collects her things, then changes in the small head off the main room.

She steals downstairs, and through the main hall. Glad when she sees only one acolyte, and she is asleep at the receptionist's desk.

Once back aboard the Normandy. Shepard is so glad that the watch doesn't ask any questions as she steps aboard. As she steps onto the crew deck she starts across, only to be brought up short, seeing Kaidan at a mess table looking at her.

She straightens up and looks at him. "Something you need Lieutenant?" She asks, when he doesn't answer, she walks into her cabin. She knows exactly what he was thinking. How could anyone not think that? Here she is, out all night, and coming in with her pants untucked from her boots, her blouse bundled in her left hand, right in its sling, and wearing only her tank.

Her whole look screamed one night stand. She chuckles to herself as she pulls out her Dress Blue uniform.

She takes a quick shower and then slides into the dark blue and gold trimmed pants, she puts on a dark blue shirt, then slides the tunic like jacket on. It fastens with three gold buttons over the left side of her chest. She fastens these one handed. Looking into the mirror, she adjusts the fit just right, and straightens her commander shoulder bars. There isn't anything to be done about the sling. At least her arm cuts are hidden by the long sleeves, her chest and neck ones as well. The long one across her face is still very visible, the others there have faded to a faint pink, not so obvious.

She gives the front hem of the tunic one last tug as she exits her cabin.

She walks over to the mess and grabs a cup of coffee. Hearing revile she sits down at a table, and thinks on what went on the night before. The Consort's advice and wisdom is unnerving to say the least. Learn to love again? Shepard gave up on that thirteen years ago. And happy to have done so. A good tussle like last night, or with Ellen is all she needs.

She is so absorbed in her thoughts she doesn't see Ashley sit down next to her. "Long night, commander?"

Shepard looks up from her half drank coffee. "Something like that." She says quietly.

"Was it at least a good night?" A teasing smile tugs Ashley's lips and Shepard has to suppress a groan.

"You could say that." She goes back to drinking her coffee.

"Anyone special?"

This time Shepard does glare. "It was nothing. Leave off." She stands up abruptly, grabbing her coffee cup. "I understand the curiosity, honest I do. But I have no intentions on talking about it."

"Aye Ma'am." Ashley responds automatically.

Shepard makes a half hearted grunt, deposits her cup in the sink. Then turns and walks up to the bridge passing through the CIC to the bridge.

"Good morning Commander." Joker greets her from his chair. He turns around to face her, "So, who's the lucky guy?"

She glares at him, "Girl. And I don't want to talk about it."

His dumbfounded expression brings a brief smile to her face, "Well, then. Huh." He turns his chair back around. "Wouldn't have pegged that one." She hears him mumble as she exits the ship through the airlock.

Stepping off the lift into c-sec an Alliance private steps forward to meet her.

"Excuse me. You're, you're Commander Shepard right?" He sounds excited, like a school boy meeting a celebrity.

"Yes, I am." she hedges cautiously. "Can I help you?"

"Oh man! How amazing!" He crows out gleefully. "Wow! _The_ Commander Shepard. Wow, ma'am I'm a huge fan. Your biggest. How you survived Akuze. Made N7. The hero of Eden Prime. Wow!"

She shies back a bit from his over enthusiasm. "Well, um. Thanks. I guess."

"Hey, would you, would you like to give me your autograph? My wife would be over the moon."

She somehow doubts his wife is going to be the one flipping for a signature. "Um, sure. Why not?" He pulls out a marker and she signs his holopad. "There you are then."

"Wow! Thanks!" He cries then runs off.

"What was that about?" She turns and sees Kaidan and Ashley stepping off the lift. Kaidan turns to watch the man run by. "You have a fan?"

"The biggest, apparently." Shepard shakes her head over the folly of it.

"I weep for the species." Ashley jokes. Both of them are in their Dress blues as well. Ashley tugging nervously at hers. They fit her, but not perfectly. A crew member probably loaned them to her.

"Well, time to go kiss the Council's ass, and pray for a decent outcome." Shepard leads them onto the transit that will take them to the Council Tower.

Stepping out of the transit, a young woman calls out, she appears to be of oriental lineage. Shepard goes over to her. A hovercam is just above the woman's right shoulder.

"Hello. I'm Emily Wong. I'm with Citadel News Net."

Shepard groans internally. Then forces a polite smile on her face. "How can I help you, Miss Wong?"

"I heard you have been investigating Spectre Arterius. But the specifics are all hush, hush. I was curious if, once the investigation is through, if you might give an interview?"

"You understand that even once it's finished, a lot will still be classified, right?"

"I know. I'm just looking to give folks real news, instead of hyped up supermodels. And the fuss that's been raised thus far is news. I'd like an inside angle."

"We'll see." Shepard just nods politely. "If you'll excuse us? We are due for a meeting with the Council." She doesn't wait for an answer, instead she strides past the woman and up the stairs.


	15. Chapter 15

Author's Note: Part two of Friday!

I'm glad it is these two chapters today. This chapter is a dear one to me. It gave me shivers to write the swearing in, and still gives me shivers to read.

Anyways, enjoy!

Bioware is king

* * *

Chapter fifteen

Back ramrod straight. Shepard looks to the Council in near disbelief. They want to send her? As a Spectre? Into the Traverse? Surely there has been some mistake.

"Commander Shepard, step forward." The asari Councilor summons. Shepard doesn't move, still in shock. Kaidan gives her a gentle push on her good shoulder.

She takes three slow, deliberate steps forward. When she looks slightly up at the Council, She snaps her heels together smartly. Instinct slides her left arm behind her, pulling her shoulders back and chest high. She doesn't dare look around, but she can hear the footsteps and murmurs begin as people shuffle up to see.

"It is the decision of the Council that you be given all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel." She looks down, right into Shepard's eyes, "Do you accept? To give your all and protect the galaxy at all costs?"

Shepard nods once. "I do." She says, her voice ringing clearly around the chambers.

The Salarian Councilor speaks next. "Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle. Those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file." He is the one to look her in the eye this time, "Do you accept? To reflect upon the actions of your past that have brought you here? Continue showing that which makes you a exemplary soldier?" He echoes of the Asari.

"I do." She replies once more.

The asari speaks again, "Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will." Shepard looks to her as she asks, "Do you accept? To do our will, no matter the costs, to live by justice, and loyalty?"

"I do."

The Turian speaks this part of the ceremony, "Spectres bear a great burden. They are the protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold." His gaze is more piercing and intense than the others'. "Do you accept? Are you prepared to lay down your own life for the greater peace and justice of the galaxy?"

"I do." This one is full of conviction for her.

They all speak this time, "Do you accept to protect and serve the Council, and Citadel space, to seek justice and vengeance against our enemies, both foreign and domestic, and to obey the orders and will of this Council to your dying breath?"

She feels like she did the first time she swore in to the Alliance. A sense of a cloak settling over her, made up of pride, duty, loyalty, and honor. This last statement banishes all doubt and uncertainties from her mind. "I do!" She barks out.

She is proud and surprised to hear, and when she looks, see not only humans cheering. But turians, volus, asari, salarians, all cheering for her. Proud of her, and her species. It fills her with more pride. But despite her heart beating fast, her mind full of flights of joy, her back remains stiff and straight, her face calm and still, her eyes staring out ahead.

"Congratulations Commander. This is a great accomplishment for the Human race. Do them proud." The asari sounds genuinely pleased.

"Your mission is simple." The Turian speaks, "Find Saren. Bring him back to face trial for treason."

"You will be granted access to any and all resources needed to complete your mission." The Salarian says.

"This council meeting is adjourned." The Asari bows her head and they all step back and out of the chamber.

"Very well then." Udina sniffs, "Shepard, you are going to need a ship, crew, supplies. Resources. Captain Anderson, I'll require your assistance to get this mission underway." With that Udina turns and walks down the stairs and out of the chambers.

Anderson grips her good shoulder affectionately. "Good job, Shepard. I'm proud of you." He turns and walks away. Then stops and turns back to her, "You should get back and let Chakwas work on that shoulder. We're going to be a while finding you a ship and crew." This time he does continue out of sight and from the chamber.

"That Udina is an ass hole." Ashley growls, "He makes such a fuss about a human Spectre then he doesn't even thank you, let alone congratulate."

"I don't deserve this, and I don't care what he thinks." Shepard turns away from the council chamber, "Come on. We've got a lot to get done." They take the stairs down as Kaidan steps up beside her.

"You do deserve it Shepard. You're the best soldier in the Alliance, everyone knows it. You are too good to sit in the background. We can all see you'll go far."

Shepard waves off his compliment as they get to the bottom of the steps. "I doubt it. Trust me, there are plenty of soldiers that are better suited than me."

"Excuse me!" A voice woman's voice rings out from behind them, "Excuse me, Commander Shepard."

Shepard turns to look, the reporter, Wong, is rushing towards them. She takes a deep breath, then flashes the woman a quick smile before extending her hand. "Hello, I'm sorry we didn't have time earlier."

Ms. Wong shakes her hand. "Thank you. Its alright."

"I suppose you're wanting to ask about the investigation?" Shepard asks.

"Well, I was. But now that you're the first Human Spectre. That's a much bigger story."

"I'll have to trust you on that. What can I do for you?"

"Ok. Just let me get set." She pulls up her omni tool and adjusts the hover

cam to point over her shoulder at Shepard. A light pops on, and Shepard flinches. "Oh, sorry. I should've warned you."

"It's fine."

"Alright then." She takes a deep breath, then nods to Shepard. "Emily Wong with Citadel News Net here. I am with Commander Shepard, humanity's first Council Spectre. Commander, how do you feel about this promotion?"

It's her turn to take a deep breath, "I am proud to represent humanity in the Spectres, it is an honor to be given this duty."

"What are your plans now? Does the Council have a mission for you?"

"The council has given me the mission of tracking down the Rogue Spectre Saren Arterius. We are still searching for any lead that may help."

"I see your injury, was it sustained in your hunt for Saren?"

"Yes. He sent assassins to murder a quarian who had found valuable evidence against him."

"Thank you Commander. I hope it heals soon, the galaxy sounds like it needs you in fighting shape." Shepard nods then turns away when the hovercam pans back to look at . "There you have it, the first Human Spectre, Commander Shepard. This is Emily Wong, signing off."

"I hate interviews." Shepard grumbles as they walk to the transit to take them back to c-sec.

"You might have to get used to them, Shepard." Kaidan chuckles as they board.

"Not if I don't go near reporters."

"It was a good thing to do." Ashley says, "Gives people a sense of pride, to see you. They know it's real then, not media hype." Shepard's only reply is disgruntled muttering.

Once back aboard the Normandy she dismisses Kaidan and Ashley to return to their duties. She goes back to her cabin and changes from her Dress blues into her more comfortable ship blue NWUs. Absently rubbing at her shoulder she sits at her desk and looks at the picture of her family. "What would you think Da? You're girl being a Spectre? Ha, and you Mum? Preacher's granddaughter in the military and above the law in citadel space." She sighs and stands up, turning away from the desk. She walks out to the mess to grab a cup of coffee. Leaning back against the sink, she breathes the aroma of the drink and thinks on all that has to be decided and done with.

A ship? Crew? But she likes the Normandy, the crew here is a good one. Her squadmates are all good, and possibly even becoming friends. Would she have to leave them behind? Will they put her on a Citadel ship? Would it be Asari? Turian? Salarian? She knows nothing about those ships. She wants more than anything to stay on the Normandy. But that is not possible. She isn't a citadel ship. She's Alliance.

"I hear congratulations are in order." Garrus interrupts her thoughts. She looks up to see a grin lights his face. "The first human Spectre. Quite the feat."

"I don't want to talk about it. It's a title, nothing more."

"Sure, you keep telling yourself that. If it were just a title, you wouldn't be able to hunt down Saren."

"All I care about is catching the bastard. I'm done sitting here on my thumbs waiting on politicians."

"If you were sitting on your thumbs, that explains how you managed to get shot."

She elbows him with her good arm. "It was a lucky shot."

"Sure. Keep telling yourself that. Aren't you supposed to be seeing Chakwas? Something about surgery?"

She cringes. "Yeah, I keep trying to put it off."

"The fearless new Spectre is afraid of needles?" Garrus chuckles.

She glowers at him, "Not afraid, I just. I don't like being put under. Anesthesia and I don't get along."

Garrus chuckles again as he elbows her in return. "Go on, you wuss. Got to be in fighting shape soon enough." He continues chuckling merrily as he walks away. She turns to look towards the medbay and sees Chakwas at her desk. Gritting her teeth, she sets her mug in the sink and walks over.

When the doors swish open, she takes a couple weary steps in, then looks up from the deck to meet Chakwas' gaze.

The woman laughs not unkindly, "You look like you're walking to the gallows." She guides Shepard to a biobed. "Come on then."

"I hate surgery, and I hate being put under." She replies, sitting on the biobed. "How long is this going to take?" She slips her arm out of the sling, laying it aside.

"Shouldn't take more than a couple hours. You'll be back on duty by tomorrow, the following day at the latest."

"Alright then. Let's try and make it faster?" She unfastens her blouse and lays it by the sling.

"I think not. Go on then, off with the rest."

"I think you're a bit old for me, doc." Shepard teases as she pulls off her tank, wincing as her shoulder throbs.

The older woman simply shakes her head, "Half your shoulder is missing. It won't be an easy fix."

"Let's get it done then." Wearing only her sports bra and pants, she lays back on the bed.

Chakwas steps up, a syringe in her hand. "Here we are then." She presses it into Shepard's arm.

The effect is almost instant, She looks up at Chakwas, "See ya on the other side." She says before slipping under into blackness.


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note: Got a shorter chapter up earlier today. Gotta work all day so won't have time to upload around my usual time.

This is a reflections chapter. Shepard taking time, albeit forced rest by Chakwas, to reflect on her new circumstances.

Bioware is brilliant

* * *

Chapter sixteen

Opening her eyes, Shepard first turns her head to see her shoulder. It is wrapped again in gauze. She blinks away more of the drugs, and pushes herself up to a sit.

"You do realize if you weren't so intent on getting up as soon as you wake, you might get along better with anesthesia." Chakwas comes over and looks into Shepard's eyes, she then checks the monitors and the bandage.

"What time is it?" Shepard takes her clothes when Chakwas gives them to her.

"Twenty fifteen, Shepard." As she flinches when she pulls her tank on, Chakwas continues. "The pain and stiffness will fade in a couple days."

Shepard pulls her blouse on and stands up carefully. "Any word from the Council, Udina, or Anderson?" She fastens her blouse, then leans back against the bed as a wave of dizziness overcomes her.

"Nothing from the Council. Udina and Anderson would like to meet with you once you're ready."

"Now is good." Shepard steps away from the bed. Steadying herself.

"Now is not a good time." Chakwas gives her a stern look, "You will be indisposed and _resting_ until at least tomorrow afternoon."

"Maybe late morning?" She hedges, looking to bargain with the older woman.

"Absolutely not."

"Noon then?"

"Keep it up and I'll put you on SIQ for the next three days. Be glad it's only SIQ for tonight, and LLD for the next two days."

Shepard gives the woman an half hearted scowl. "Ouch, I concede defeat. I'll be in my cabin."

"Smart choice." Chakwas smiles at her. "Go on. Away with you."

Shepard smiles then makes her way, carefully, from the medbay to her cabin. She removes her blouse, laying it on the desk chair and steps up to the mirror. The cuts on her face and arms are healed. Only two became scars. The one on her face, and one that runs up her left arm, a long ridge that runs from the outside of her wrist along the underside of her arm and ends at the inside of her elbow.

She goes and lays down on her rack. Boots and clothes still on. Despite the drugs still in her system she is not in the least bit tired. Too many thoughts, too much to do.

Spectre? How the fuck did that happen? As if being the sole survivor of Akuze and then Eden Prime's hero wasn't enough bullshit on her plate. Now she's gotta deal with being a gods damned Spectre! She knows in her sensible self that it's what Anderson had brought her onto the Normandy for. But after Nihlus and Saren? Being a Spectre was the last thing she ever expected. And the very last thing she could ever want.

She gets up and starts pacing. What happened to being a soldier, a grunt? Go here, shoot that, booze it away off duty. Simple, unnoticed. Alone. Now? Fuck, the only advantage she can see is she can go wherever the hell she wants. But to get away from it all? She's no fool, she's free to go where the council wants her to. And to be able to hide among the stars, hide in the crowd. That's all gone now. Anonymity is a dream now. And what she does from this moment onward will be forever etched in the history books. She won't be allowed to slip into the void again.

Her pacing takes her out onto the crew deck. It must be late already, only the deck running lights are on. Casting the upper reaches of the bulkheads in shadow. She shoves her hands deep in her pockets, ducking her head down, her hair falls forward over her face. Absently she brushes the left back as she walks up to the CIC. She walks the decks thinking yet again on recent events.

How did it all get so complicated, so fast? Just over a week ago she was joking around with Ellen as the two of them sparred in Arcturus' fitness gyms. Laughing, having a goodtime. The biggest worry on her mind was how to get Ellen back to her apartment for more than drinks.

Now? Fuck, Ellen seems like light years ago. And her worries are tenfold now, her responsibilities doubled even that.

"Aren't you supposed to be SIQ in your cabin, Commander?" Unbidden, her feet have carried her to the bridge, and Joker's greeting surprises her.

"What?" She looks up, brushing the stray locks of her hair behind her right ear. "We'll just not tell Chakwas."

"Probly best that way. You can't sleep?"

She walks to the left side copilot seat and sits, propping her foot up on the console. "Something like that. What about you? Don't you have a place? And don't we have a night watch pilot?"

"Sure, but this seat is ten times more comfortable than that sleeping pod. And I wouldn't trust this beauty to any other hands than my own."

She gives an agreeing shrug of her shoulders as she turns to look out the view port. "View isn't as good here as Arcturus." She remarks.

Joker is a little unsettled by her being so, casual. She's not the most formal officer for certain. But she hasn't shown any inclination towards casual camaraderie with him before. With any of them for that matter. "Nothing is ever as good as the view from home. That's what my Dad said. Course, he was talking about groundside. But it's the same right?"

She hums her agreement, "That's true. Arcturus has much better views."

"That's 'cause they park ships decently to view space. These guys are more concerned with enough places to put ships than what view they might have."

She laughs, "That's one way to put it."

"But, Arcturus isn't home for you. Is it commander?"

"Please, call me Shepard. It's simpler." Her gaze doesn't leave the viewport, and Joker sees a forlorn shadow pass briefly over her face. "No, Arcturus hasn't always been home. I guess it counts for home the most right now."

"What did count as home?"

"Mindoir." Is all she responds.

"Right." Joker feels like the biggest idiot. He knew that. What a dumbass question. "Sorry." He turns his chair back to the console, expecting her to either leave or rip him a new one first.

"It's alright. What's home for you?"

He turns back to look at her, incredulous that she doesn't seem bothered. "Arcturus is where I grew up."

She chuckles, "Spacer. It figures."

"What are talking about? What's Spacer mean?" He looks at her confused, and fairly certain that it is some form of insult.

"Cool your heels." She chuckles again, "It's what us colony kids called those who grew up and lived their whole lives practically in space. On ships or stations. It's why you're all so pale ya know. Don't get enough sun. I bet you've got miserable allergies too."

"Now wait just a minute! That's unfair. You colony bum rags wouldn't have nothin if it weren't for us spacers! Just you go on thinking about that-" He pauses mid sentence when he sees a wicked gleam pass through her eyes and a grin tug at one corner of her mouth. All steam deflates out of his protests, "Anyone ever tell you, you are plain evil? Straight to the bone."

She lets out a laugh that sounds somewhere between a dog's bark and a crow's cackle. "More times than you can count there little man." Her laughs subside into chuckles, "Colony bum rags." she snorts slightly. "Hehe, good one."

"Besides, if lack of sun exposure is what makes us pale. What excuse have you got?"

"Irish blood." She grins a wolf's grin at him.

"That explains a lot more than it doesn't. No wonder you're a hard ass."

She actually sticks her tongue out at him. Then stands up. "I like you Joker. It's good for me to have someone to sharpen my tongue on that doesn't flinch." With that she turns and walks out of the bridge. Joker watches her thinking, that's one hell of a woman.


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Note: Got a fun left of canon chapter for you guys today. Just a little light hearted fun, then one last dig at Udina for awhile.

Thanks be to Heather Alexander for "The March of Cambreadth" for its lyrics.

If you've never heard this song. Go check it out. so full of win.

Praise and love to bioware as always.

* * *

Chapter seventeen

Back in her rack Shepard removes her boots and looks up at the ceiling lost in idle thoughts. For once her head has stopped aching for a bit. She closes her eyes, hoping for enough peace to sleep. She peeks her eyes open after a time of not falling asleep, dreading the time she will see on her desk. It reads oh two hundred. Four hours off from reveille. In a last ditch effort to sleep she fingers her omni tool to play a melody, and begins to hum along with the tune from her early teens. It's something her Da said had come from Earth before the Mars Discovery. It's something from one of his sci-fi books she loved.

After humming the opening frame she half mumbles, half sings the words, "Axes flash, broadsword swing. Shining amour's piercing ring, horses run with polished shield. Fight those bastards till they yield," her foot starts tapping out the rhythm on the bulkhead at the end of her rack. "Midnight mare and blood red roan. Fight to keep this land your own. Sound the horn and call the cry," Her voice climbs a little in volume, getting more fierce as she sings the lyrics. "How many of them can we make die!" She grins menacingly. "Follow orders as you're told. Make their yellow blood run cold. Fight until you die or drop, a force like ours is hard to stop." She begins waving her arms in time to the beat and lyrics.

She crows this line, "Close your mind to stress and pain, fight till you're no longer sane. Let not one damn cur pass by," This last bit she cries out loud, "How many of them can we make die!"

A chime goes off at her door. Curious, she lowers her media's volume and goes to answer. Opening the door she sees Jacobs standing there, her NWU pants pulled haphazardly on over her shorts, her tank uncovered.

"Can I help you, Jacobs?"

"I didn't know you could sing." The woman is blinking bleary eyes.

Shepard steps back silently inviting the young woman in. "Sorry I didn't mean to wake anyone with my wailing."

"I was up anyway."

"Seems the curse of the ship tonight. Joker is still up as well." She signals her media to cut off.

"You didn't have to do that. I liked it."

"What? That old thing? It's a relic. I don't listen to it very often." Shepard goes to her locker and fishes out her bottle of Jack. "Care for a drink? Maybe the booze will ease us both to sleep."

"Um, sure I guess." Jacobs looks uncertain.

"You ever had whiskey before?" Shepard pours two glasses, handing one to the ensign.

"Can't say that I have."

As she tips the glass back Shepard starts to warn her, "You don't wanna gulp-" The ensign doubles over coughing, tears shining in her eyes. Shepard saves the glass and pats the girl on the back, "-that." She can't help but chuckle once Jacobs stands back up on her own.

Face red, tears streaming down her cheeks she gasps out. "Great god Commander. How do you drink that?"

Shepard takes a moment to enjoy the contact with Jacobs, before she makes herself let go and stand back. "Lots of practice. And I didn't start out at a gulp." She offers the glass back to the ensign. "Try again?"

Jacobs holds up her hand, "No thanks. I think I'll stick with wine from now on."

"Suit yourself." Shepard knocks back, not only Jacobs drink, but her own as well.

"Show off. I'll just be getting back to my bunk. good night, Commander." she turns and leaves, the door snapping shut behind her. Shepard sets the glasses on her desk. She hums her tune again as she lays down on the cot. Thinking about the ensign, she finally nods off to sleep.

"Reveille, reveille. All hands, heave out and trice up. Uniform of the day is as follows..."

Shepard groans and rolls off her cot. Standing up she stretches out her long frame. Glaring at the overhead she growls. "One of these days I'd love to find that speaker and break it." She sits down at her terminal and brings up her messages. Fifteen unread. She starts going through them, most are congratulations from old bunk mates and squadmates. "Delete, delete, delete." She mutters to herself running through the list. One message catches her eye. It's from Admiral Hackett, simply titled "N7 mission, high priority."

She opens it, and is perplexed and more than a bit worried by its contents. Two squads of Marines have disappeared responding to the same distress beacon. He wants her to investigate. When the hell, let alone how the hell, is she supposed to be able to look into this?

"Commander, Captain Anderson is on the quarterdeck, he and Udina are asking to see you." Joker sounds over the comm.

"Copy that." She opens a private channel to Chakwas. "Have I permission to head up to the quarterdeck? It seems the meeting has been bumped up, and relocated dockside."

She can hear Chakwas' resigned sigh, "Very well. you are still on LLD for the rest of today."

Shepard laces her boots up and stands, "I think that won't be a problem doc." She signs off the comm. Grabbing her blouse she slides it on, fastening it on her way up to the quarterdeck.

She finishes her last tucking as she steps onto the catwalk neck to the bridge. Anderson is standing there arms tucked behind his back, Udina is beside him, his usual disdain scowl in place.

She stretches out her hand in greeting, "Good morning, Captain. I didn't expect you so early."

He shakes her hand while saying, "Neither did I. Apparently Udina would prefer you get underway today."

"Underway, sir?"

Udina's whine grates on Shepard's ear, "Yes. After much discussion," he casts a dark look at Anderson, "It has been decided that the Normandy will become yours."

"Excuse me?" She interrupts. "Mine? That's not right, she is Captain Anderson's."

Anderson shakes his head. "Not anymore." This time he is the one to glare at Udina, though his is less of a glare and more of a disapproving look. "The first human Spectre deserves an Alliance ship, and it's best if that ship is the best in the Alliance fleet."

"Respectfully, sir. This is wrong. I'm not of the rank or experience to be in sole command of a frigate."

"You're a Spectre now Shepard." Anderson gives her a small smile, "You are entitled to your own ship."

"Very well." She responds, a soldier to her commanding officer. "I accept."

"Remember, you were Alliance long before you were a Spectre." Udina says, his tone warning.

She can't help the glare she directs his way, nor her curt reply, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You are still Alliance, still human, and subject to our laws, and the orders of your superior officers." Udina has a smug look on his face.

"You're kidding, right?" Shepard is incredulous he would say this. "You do know what 'Above rank and file' means, don't you?"

"That doesn't apply to these circumstances!" Udina barks out. "You will behave in such a way that reflects positively on humanity, and that means obeying any orders given by the Alliance to keep you in line."

She can't help the bark of laughter that breaks from her. "You mean in such a way that reflects positively on _you_." She spits at him. Then leans in close, "I will obey the orders of those officers I have respect for. Not some slimy, grubbing, politician like you who's only out for his own advancement."

"Enough commander." Anderson says tiredly. "What's done is done."

"Aye, sir." She snaps to parade rest. "What are your orders, sir?"

"To find Saren will be like finding a needle in the haystack while on a wild goose chase. Your best bet is to find the conduit, find it and you find Saren."

"The conduit, sir?"

Udina steps in, "Yes, we have three leads. Feros and Noveria both had reports of Geth activity. Feros has fallen off communication. Noveria is holding its secrets as close as always. Rumors, however, have reached us that there was an asari matriarch that arrived not very long ago."

"And the third?" Shepard looks between the two men.

"It seems that the Matriarch Benezia, the asari helping Saren, it appears she has a daughter. Dr. Liara T'soni, she is an archaeologist specializing in prothean research. It's possible she knows, or has heard, of this Conduit. She may also know how or where to find the Matriarch."

"Do we have any last known coordinates?"

"She was last known to be in the Artemis Tau cluster." Anderson hands her a data pad. "All the information we have on these three leads is in there."

"Aye sir."

Udina and Anderson step back. "Very well, Commander." Udina looks to her, his watery eyes focusing on hers. "My suggestion is to start with the T'Soni daughter, she may be able to lead you in the right direction." She just nods her assent, as Udina turns and leaves.

Anderson lingers behind for a moment. "Best of luck to you Shepard. I know you'll get this done. I'll keep in contact." He salutes her, then turns an about face and strides from the ship.


	18. Chapter 18

Author's Note: Got a short chapter here. Finally disembarking the Citadel. Story will be picking up from here. More left of canon. So, brace yourselves for a new way of seeing the Mass Effect universe.

Bioware owns all.

* * *

Chapter eighteen

Shepard does a slow turn, looking around at the ship. Her ship. A small smile tugs at the corner of her mouth as she stops and faces the bridge. She steps up into the bridge, resting one hand on the shoulder of Joker's seat. "Well, Mr. Moreau. Looks like we've got a lot of work to do."

"Do you want to make a speech to the crew now?"

She looks at him, dumbfounded. "Speech?"

He slowly nods his head, "Yes, Ma'am. You know, something to stir their blood, give them confidence. It's gonna be weird enough having a Commander as a CO on a frigate, without adding in that Commander is also a Spectre. Oh and also be sure to throw in we're chasing a rogue Spectre with a huge, fucking, scary ass ship, and an asari Matriarch powerful enough to squish your bones to dust. It wouldn't hurt to have a little moral boost."

She would think he was joking, if his face wasn't so damned serious. She gulps down the lump that's risen in her throat. "Right. A, a speech. Sure."

He can't help his mouth falling open in amused shock. "You don't do speeches?"

"No. I'm a grunt. A shooter. I'm no diplomat, or leader. I don't do speeches." Her voice actually has a small squeak of fear.

Joker struggles not to laugh, and fails.

She smacks the back of his chair in frustration. "Laugh it up mister. Fine. I'll do this. Somehow."

He chuckles, "You'll think of something."

"Thanks." She says dryly. Then rolls her shoulders back, stands straighter, cracks her neck side to side, and clear her throat.

"Are you alright there?"

"Fine. Let's get this over with." She snaps.

He shrugs and flips a switch. "Com's live."

Her face blanches and she can feel her stomach drop to the deck. But she squeezes her eyes shut then opens them. "This is your Commanding Officer, Commander Shepard. We have been been ordered by the Council to hunt down the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius and bring him to justice." She pauses for a moment, racking her brain for what to say next. "I have no illusions that this mission will be in any way, shape, or form an easy job. We will need to find courage and resilience greater than any we've ever needed before. Many of you have seen the new additions to our crew. They will be respected as crew. This mission is too big, and too important to allow old prejudices to reign." She pauses again, this time, allowing a breath for her words to sink in. "Saren has an army of Geth at his disposal. Right now, they revere him as the oracle to their gods. They have, and will continue to throw their everything at us to stop us from completing our mission. We must not fail. At any costs, we will find Saren, and he will answer for the crimes he has committed." She looks at Joker, raising her eyebrow in a question. He nods his head, pride shining a faint glint in his eyes, she nods back. "That will be all. You may return to your duties."

Joker cuts off the com. "Well done commander. And you were worried."

"Oh shut it." She grumbles to him. "Lay in a course for the Artemis Tau cluster. This asari, Dr.T'soni, may be our best bet right now."

"Aye Ma'am." Joker eases the Normandy back out of the dock. Once in open air he gracefully turns her nose out to the black. "Course laid in, ETA fifteen hours."

"Sounds good." she looks out the view port and whispers. "Let's go find our adventure." Then turns and walks down to the crew deck.

At oh eight hundred, Tali turns away from the mess line to find a seat at the tables. She sees Shepard still sitting at the same table that she has been at all day. The fingers of her right hand entwined in her hair leaning over a datapad in her right hand. A cold mug of coffee beside her.

Tali sits down across from her. "Any progress?"

"A bit." Shepard glances up at Tali and sees her having the Quarian equivalent to a meal. "I'm glad the Alliance, or Council, was able to supply you with the things you need."

"I am too. I'm accustomed to carrying my own supply, but it is nice to be cared for already."

Shepard merely nods as she returns to her research on the datapad. "I wish we had more to go on than just the Artemis Tau cluster. They do realize how many planets are in just _one _of its four habited systems, right?" She growls in frustration. She's been reviewing all the info she can find on prothean research in the cluster. To no avail.

"What search parameters are you using?"

"Anything to do with Prothean research."

"What about the T'soni daughter? Surely with such a powerful Matriarch, the doings of her daughter would be noted."

Shepard leans forward, grasping the sides of Tali's helmeted head, she kisses the forehead of the faceplate. "Tali you're a genius."

Tali blushes inside her suit. "It was just a simple thought." She murmurs.

Shepard doesn't hear her as she quickly applies the search parameters. She crows out in delight a moment later. "Yes! We have a possible location. Finally." she jumps up and quick marches from the mess, the datapad clutched tight in her hand.

She strides up to the Galaxy map. Grasping hold of the handrail and data pad with her left hand, she manipulates the holo interface of the map, inputting the coordinates for the planet Therum in Knossos system of the Cluster. "Joker, I'm uploading new coordinates to you. Lay in a course for the planet Therum. It seems our wayward asari recently published an article in an asari archaeologists' paper stating she will be on the planet for some time to come."

"Aye, aye Ma'am. Course laid in. ETA is eight hours."

"Copy that. We'll take a landing party down in the morning." She steps down from the map and returns to her cabin.

Sitting at her desk she continues to dig through and read some of the articles this woman has written. To call her an expert on Protheans is an understatement. This woman is obsessed. The more she reads, the more she is intrigued by her. Dr.T'soni seems to be an oddity among her peers and social circle. Apparently the daughter of such a political and spiritual Matriarch is not expected, or approved of being an archaeologist. It seems she has been going from one dig site to another for a number of years. Something about her determination and dedication fascinates and amuses Shepard. This woman could prove herself to be an invaluable asset to their mission. Now how to get her on their side?

She hears the watch call out the midnight hour and sighs. Her musings and reading has gone on longer than she planned. Shutting off her console at her desk she changes to her night shorts and tank. She falls asleep thinking yet of the asari doctor.


	19. Chapter 19

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. Been a long day. The Trickster chose to dance, chaotically in my life today.

Got a couple fun semi-easter eggs for you guys. If you find them and can guess right. I might give you a sneak peek ahead, or something equally fun.

One is kinda easy to spot and know, the other might be a bit more obscure.

Bioware is awesome.

* * *

Chapter nineteen

"The ground is too rocky to drop you in the shuttle at the ruins site, and with the Geth already here, that AA garrison will peg us for sure." Joker says over the com as Shepard, Wrex, and Tali gear up in the cargo hold.

"What are our options?" Shepard responds.

"The best bet is I've got a canyon about two klicks out that I can drop you in the Mako at."

Shepard looks warily at the Mako assault vehicle and scowls. "Oh goody." She murmurs to herself, then louder, "That'll have to do. Get us as close as you can. We'll take out that garrison."

"Aye Ma'am."

Shepard ships her pistol, snaps extra clips to her thigh holster and seals her helmet on. "Let's go." She orders her squad. As they climb aboard the Mako she settles into the driver's seat. As she takes a moment to re-orient herself to the controls, a memory comes unbidden to the forefront of her mind.

"_Hey cappy!" She hollers at Deunan from the rear hold. "Ain't ya spos'd to be on the road, down there?"_

"_Where's the fun in that?" Deunan barks a laugh, "No batarians to shoot down there."_

"_I swear, I'm never letting you drive a Mako again." She growls, fighting to hold onto her stomach and keep a running rain of gunfire, while the Mako jostles and bounces across the forty five degree, rocky incline._

Shepard snaps back to the present, the ache in her head giving a painful throb, like an elder smacking her in the back of the head to get her attention. She shakes her head, remembering Deunan, an old merch buddy of hers. That woman was all spunk and fire. They were on Elysium together. In the short time Deunan was a marine.

"Nearing the drop zone." Joker's voice crackles through her helmet com. She sees the bay doors hiss open, the rocky red terrain of the planet not a hundred feet below reminding her of mars. "Dropping you in five, four, three.." He trails off and Shepard picks up the count in her head. She feels the mag thrusters of the deck slide them out of the rear of the Normandy's bay as the ship tilts slightly up and they ease out.

"Out and away." She radios back to Joker, "Engaging stabilizing thrusters." She feels the rumble through the deck as the ventral eezo thrusters fire up to balance the load of the Mako and slow its descent to the ground.

"Roger that. Reading you loud and clear." Joker responds.

"Maintain radio silence, we'll call when we need you."

"Aye ma'am, Normandy out."

She cuts off the thrusters ten feet up from the ground, it falls sharply and bounces slightly as it settles. The forbidding, rough, rugged red sand and rock terrain stretches out all around them. She spots a break between the peaks that might prove to be a semi-decent pass. She angles the Mako in that direction and heads out. The mako quickly reminds her why she doesn't like it. The eezo anti-grav core, meant to help stability, causes it to bounce and slide. It's like trying to drive a bumper car across a frozen pond.

The pass has proven itself to little more than a torture of jagged rocks and sand pits, barely wide enough to fit the Mako, Shepard constantly has to navigate across by veering up onto the cliff sides and pray the vehicle does not tip over. The garrison is easy enough to disable, only a small platoon of Geth troopers guarding it.

Coming to the end of the pass, it is blocked by a wall of tall jagged peaks. The path continues past them but the Mako won't fit through there.

Shepard turns around to look to Wrex and Tali in the back. "Load out, looks like we're going it afoot from here." As they step out of the Mako she climbs out of the cockpit and outside to stand by them.

Tali looks around them. "My people have been exiled and searching for a home for generations. If we came across this place, we would just keep right on going."

Shepard grins, even with her suit's climate control, she is sweltering underneath it. She glances at Wrex, he seems unaffected by the heat. "I suppose you're happy as a lark in this heat aren't you?"

He looks genuinely confused, "What heat?" She just shakes her head, as they pass through the crags and up the hill behind. Coming over the crest of the hill, the path descends the other side, and into what must be the scientists' camp. A couple prefab modules link together for living quarters and labs. The path continues out the other side and up the hill.

Stepping down into the camp, two Geth rocket troopers step out from corners and fire down the main path. Shepard and her squad quickly dive for cover, as the rockets detonate where they were, showering them with dust and rock pieces.

"Son of a bitch." Shepard swears. She crouches low behind the steps up to a module. She sees the troopers reloading. She takes two shots, her pistol rounds bouncing harmlessly off shields. Two more rockets fire their way. She quickly turns away to again be peppered by dirt and debris.

She turns and signals Tali, saying over the com, "How's your arm?"

"My arm?"

"Can you lob a flashbang into them?"

"I think so."

"Good, you lob the flashbang, I'll drop a frag. Wrex, can you take them out after?"

He smashes his fist into the other palm. "No problem." He draws his shotgun, and she can't help but grin.

"Go." Tali's grenade lands true, the pulse it puts out disrupts their shields. Shepard's grenade blasts past the remaining shields cracking them, and peppering the troopers with shrapnel. Wrex is a rushing hulk of muscle and armor that is beautiful in its brutality. His shotgun eats the midsection of one trooper, then he ships the gun, grabbing the eviscerated Geth and slamming it together with the still standing one. They shatter like glass and crash to the ground. Shepard and Tali step out of cover.

Shepard pats Wrex's shoulder as they pass. "Well done!" She can't help laughing. Wrex just turns, and the grin that spreads across is fearful and predatory.

"It is satisfying to crack some heads together."

They continue up the rise outside the camp, "If I were a walking tank, I would crack heads more often too."

"Speaking of walking tanks." Tali squeaks. Turning, Shepard sees a Geth colossus unfold in front of them.

"Tah mah duh, hwoon dahn," Shepard hisses, slipping into the Chinese swearing she learned from Deunan. They have barely a breath of time before it fires. Wrex drops and rolls to the left, Shepard rams Tali under the arm, into her side, nearly throwing her. Getting her out of the path of the incoming projectile. The motion leaves Shepard herself vulnerable. She twists, takes two steps, trying to dive to the ground. The blue sphere of superheated plasma explodes on the ground not five feet behind her. The blast picks her up, sending her careening headfirst toward a large boulder. Instinctively she rolls her head down, trying to curve into a ball. Her back collides with the rock, barking all the air from her lungs. She slides upside down and head first into the dust and rocky ground.

Tali rushes over and helps her stand. "Commander! Are you alright?"

She dusts herself off, her ears ringing even inside her helmet. She turns, looking back up the hill. She'd flown over the crest, out of the line of fire. A smoking crater smolders where she stood moments before. "Talk about a flying lesson." She says, shaking her head she pats Tali's shoulder reassuringly, as they cautiously walk back up the hill. "I'm good. Where's Wrex?"

Wrex, it seems, has the reflexes and instincts of a turtle. He is beside the crater, and curled into a ball the size of a medium boulder. He is hidden slightly behind a solid metal wall, a meter thick. Shepard and Tali dash over as he stands up.

"Damn, Wrex." Shepard looks him over, "You alright?"

"I'm fine. What happened to you? Did you run through an oven?" He snaps his neck side to side.

"Something like that. I took a flying lesson." She peeks around the corner in time to see another plasma blast coming their way. "Heads down!" She calls. They all duck as the explosion shudders their protection, blue wisps of plasma shimmer around the edges.

"How do we take that down?" Tali asks, she takes her own look around the box. Then ducks back as another explosion rocks the ground.

Shepard has a manic gleam come to her eyes, an evil smile crooks her mouth. "I have an idea. It's totally mind fucked. But just might work."

Tali looks at Shepard, "Do I dare ask what?"

"Wrex," Shepard turns to him, "How good of an underhand to you have?"

The next she knows she is sliding across the ground on her back. Too small and fast for the huge turret to orient on her. Her suit provides enough of a smooth surface to reduce friction, coupled with Wrex's underhand throw, she ends up skidding across the ground at break neck speeds, curled into a tight ball.

She skids under the colossus and reaches out, grasping a rear leg. It stops her forward motion, spinning her around the leg and she tumbles across the ground. Standing up she finds a seam on the underbelly of the colossus. She pulls, tugs, and pries it back, exposing the coils, tubes, wires, and framework of the mech. She reaches in and starts yanking various cables. Aiming for those headed towards the legs and head, where the gun is. Sparks start showering her as the machine tilts forward. It shudders and emits a small explosion that knocks her up and back, then it stills and clatters to the ground.

She pushes herself off the ground, dusting off again. Wrex fires his gun twice into the beast's head as Tali rushes over.

"You are meeting entirely too many explosions." Her words are of worry, but Shepard can hear the amusement in her voice.

"I've always wanted to learn to fly. Seemed like a good way to try."

"I don't think humans are capable of independent flight."

"There's nothing to it." Shepard teases, "Just throw yourself at the ground and miss." She pats Tali's shoulder and mounts the ramp up to a tunnel that burrows into the mountain.

Tali turns to Wrex who has stepped up to follow Shepard. "How does one miss the ground?" She asks. Wrex just shrugs his shoulders as they follow Shepard to the tunnel and down into the mountain.

* * *

End of chapter nods to Joss Wheadon and Douglas Adams.

(If you had to read this to know the easter eggs, you don't win)


	20. Chapter 20

Author's Note: Got a longer chapter for you today. Kinda my little apology for yesterday's delayed publish, plus, it's Independence Day. You deserve a treat. :)

Lots of Left of canon in this chapter, so prepare for fun.

Bioware is grand.

* * *

Chapter twenty

As the elevator grinds to a shaky halt one level still up from the cavern's floor, Shepard complains. "Have I ever mentioned I do not like elevators on mission?"

"I do not believe so, Commander." Tali answers. Carefully they step onto the ramp that leads down to the ground floor.

A Geth sniper takes a potshot at them, it glances off of the edge of Shepard's suit at the shoulder. It elicits more swearing from the Commander. She immediately drops to a knee, returning fire along the sniper's trail from the bullet. She sees sparks as her shots ping off its armor. She signals Tali and Wrex to descend the ramp behind as she gives covering fire. She then back peddles at a crouch down the ramp, keeping the sniper pinned back in cover. Once out of line of sight, she lets up her pistol fire, swapping out her clip. Tali begins giggling. Of all things, giggling.

Shepard raises an eyebrow and looks quizzically to the girl. "What the devil are you giddy about?"

Tali simply points around the corner of the ramp and rock face. The Geth sniper has turned his back on them and is firing into the ranks of his own.

Shepard's jaw drops, she knows it. "You have _got _to teach me that one." She breathes excitedly.

Once the sniper has eliminated all the targets, an overload from Tali detonates and destroys him. "If you want. I didn't know you had an interest in Combative Engineering."

Shepard can just imagine that the young quarian is blushing fiercely behind that faceplate. "I've always loved learning how things work. It just lead to combat practices too, I suppose."

"Hello? Is someone out there? Can you hear me?" The cries from a woman come from behind them. Turning, Shepard is awed by the large, shimmering blue curtain blocking their way into the prothean ruin. A young asari is suspended by a biotic sphere.

She steps closer, peering through the rippling waves of blue, trying to see her better. "I can hear you. My name is Commander Shepard. I'm with the Systems Alliance."

"Alliance? Human?" her voice comes out high, shrill almost. "Now I know, I'm going to die."

"Hey now!" Shepard calls out, insulted, "I'm here to help!"

"You can't help me. The veil and this stasis field can only be deactivated from inside. There's no way in."

"You're quite the pessimist ain't ya?"

"And you're just a hallucination. Go away, I'd rather die without a pointless argument."

Shepard turns around to look at Wrex and Tali. "Any ideas?"

"Perhaps she has been trapped for some time now." Tali ventures closer to the veil, "Dehydration could explain her state of mind." She runs her omni tool's scanner over the veil.

Shepard stretches her hand out to the field. As soon as her palm connects to it, it shocks her back. Knocking her on her ass. with a solid "oomf!" Wrex chuckles and she glares at him.

"You give it a shot then." She snaps.

He shifts his weight around then charges at the barrier at a solid run. He lowers his head to headbutt it. He collides and rockets into the air to come crashing down five meters back from Shepard. She stands and goes to give him a hand up. "Now who's the fool?"

"Oh goddess!" T'soni cries out, "Go away Krogan! I don't have what you want!"

Shepard looks inquisitively between Wrex and the asari, raising an eyebrow in question. "What's this?" She asks, stepping up to the barrier, talking to T'soni again. The woman remains obstinately silent.

Shepard throws her hands up in defeat turning away gruffly, "Ack!" Then she stops and that manic, lopsided grin comes to light on her face.

Laying in a trench off to their right is an old fashioned, massive mining laser. "Oh yay." She crows happily.

"Commander?' Tali asks, stepping over. "I'm beginning to worry when I hear that tone in your voice."

"It's called glee, and it's a good thing."

"Not with you." Then Tali sees the laser. "Oh, Keelah. Please tell me you are not thinking of using that?"

Shepard turns and gives Tali her grin, "I shan't tell lies." She hops down into the trench, going over all the sides of the laser, looking for the controls.

Liara hears a rumbling and crack, like thunder rolling across the sky. She fears this is the last sign of her growing insanity and death. Hearing the impossible. Thunder on a desert planet. She fights back the tears that leap unbidden to her eyes. Water is too precious to let it out now. A lone tear trails down her cheek though. It's coolness making her shiver in this impossible heat. She prays for death to come and end this relentless torture. Then the impossible happens. The stasis field vanishes and she collapses into solid arms that catch her and lower to the floor.

She looks blearily up into a black helmet and armored woman.

"What? How?" She rasps out, weary to her bones, "You're real?"

The woman takes one hand from around Liara to unclasp and remove her helmet. Sweat slick amber red hair clings to her forehead and cheeks, the rest gathered tight back. Her eyes, they look like amber stones, shimmering in gold. They are worried, but the corners of them crinkle with a smile.

"Course I'm real." The woman helps ease Liara to sit. "How are you feeling? Are you ok?"

Sitting back on her heels, Liara raises a hand to wipe her brow, "I am rather parched. I'm sorry, for disbelieving in you."

The woman hands her a canteen. "Here, drink. It's alright. I can't imagine being in that thing for so long. It's no surprise you thought I was a hallucination."

Liara at first sips the water, it feels so good that she tips the canteen further back, gulping at the water. Her throat rebels, having constricted with dehydration, and she starts to drown, coughing and sputtering the water.

The woman takes the canteen, leaning Liara forward she pats her back until the coughs subside. "Easy there. Nice and easy." She holds the canteen to her lips. Cautiously, Liara sips at the water, until her head feels clearer.

She leans back, away from the water. "Thank you. I am sorry."

Shepard helps Liara to stand. "No need to apologize." She says, steadying the asari. "I'm Commander Shepard, from the Systems Alliance." She thinks about saying Spectre, but it still feels too new, and odd to say.

"Shepard." Liara says, standing straighter. "Commander, thank you. I don't know what brings you here, but I'm grateful."

Shepard tries to hide her guilt, for her reasons of seeking out the doctor, but she responds. "We can talk on that when you're better. Now, is there an easier way out of these ruins, other than how we came in?"

Liara looks around, the barrier has disappeared. "How _did_ you get in?"

The lopsided grin that spreads of the human's face worries Liara, the glint in her eyes does not ease her. "The mining laser." she answers simply.

"The, the laser?" Liara stutters, "You used the laser? It overpowered the barrier?"

"Nah." Shepard shrugs, "We went under. It made a nice tunnel into the floor of the level below us."

"Oh." Is all Liara gets out before a tremor shakes the ground, knocking her off balance. Shepard steadies her then looks around, worried.

"What was that?"

"The laser, it must have triggered a seismic event." Liara carefully, quickly dashes to the console of the platform in the middle of the structure.

"I knew there would be problems because of that laser." Tali complains as another tremor shakes the ground, this one more violent.

"No time to argue that now." Shepard grabs her helmet, snaps it on and rushes after Liara. "Joker!" She calls out on the radio. "We're gonna need a pick up, here."

"A little late for that." Tali squeaks as the ground heaves viciously.

"Roger that Commander." Joker replies, "ETA in five. Did you wake the big, bad dragon?"

"Shut your gob and hurry up!" Shepard radios off.

Liara gets the platform moving up. She turns back to Shepard, "Your pilot is making jokes at a time like this?" her voice climbs in pitch.

Shepard merely shrugs her shoulders, "It's a coping mechanism."

The lift slows to a stop on the top floor. Liara's retort dies in her throat when the way out of the tower is blocked by the Battlemaster Krogan that has been harassing her the past two days.

"Hello there Asari. Good of your friend to drop the barrier for us." Two geth assault troops and two rocket troopers step out to flank him.

Shepard cautiously draws her pistol. "As much as I'd love to bash your cocky head in. Did you not notice this place is about to collapse?" As if to accent her words, the mountain gives another quake, this one strong enough to cause the metal in the ruins to groan and squeal in stress.

"All the more glory. Surrender or don't. Don't would be more fun."

Shepard pinches the bridge of her nose shaking her head. She notices Wrex draw his shotgun and take a defensive stance, Tali's omni tool starts to glow, her pistol in the other hand.

Shepard looks back to the krogan dropping her hand. "I'm telling ya, bud. This is not a game you want to play."

The krogan just chuckles, turning to the geth he orders, "Kill them. Spare the asari, if you can."

Shepard and Wrex immediately open fire. Shepard back peddles to the relative cover of the struts holding the ceiling. Tali hacks one of the rocket troops, as he turns on his fellows the krogan rolls away to the right. Liara drops to the ground, encasing herself in a shimmering biotic shield. Seeing bullets bounce harmlessly off, Shepard decides she's safe enough for the moment. Wrex charges head on into the remaining rocket trooper while the other explodes, having destroyed its fellows.

Another quake shakes chunks of the ceiling down on them. Diving to avoid a falling piece of debris, Shepard loses sight of everyone in the dust. She hears a scraping sound from her left. Turning she looks directly at the charging battlemaster. His face is contorted in rage, looking like a devil from hell itself.

She barely has time to swear, "Go se." Before he slams into her. All the air escapes her lungs, she feels at least three of her ribs crack, the faceplate on her helmet half shatters, the rest denting in painfully against her head. This time she goes flying up and back from him, hard and fast. She stops abruptly as she collides with one of the support struts. The impact knocks her senseless. Sheer force of will keeps her conscious as her head and vision swim in red and greys.

She feels the warm trickle of blood rolling down from at least three points on her scalp. The ruined faceplate slices across her left cheek and nose. The wet pop in her right shoulder tells her it's dislocated. Her legs are sprawled out, and she is lying on her right side. Despite all the pain and disorientation she pushes herself to a shaking knee. Raising her pistol she unloads it into the still charging krogan. The bullets rip into the flesh of his head and neck, whizzing off of his crest hump and chest. And yet he still charges on.

She hears a shotgun blast, and then the krogan's face suddenly dissolves in an explosion of gore and bone. Too close though, his moment carries his body forward. Sliding on his front he plows straight into her, breaking her collarbone, sending her tumbling back. She comes to rest and has to bite off a scream of pain as she is pinned under his body, from her left leg up to her chest. She coughs blood up from a doubtlessly collapsed lung and tries futilely to call out to her squad.

Tali comes to a sliding stop beside her. "Commander!" She calls out.

Shepard's ears are ringing loudly and her awareness is quickly slipping into shock. She groans. Pushing the gray haze back and trying to push herself up on her elbows. Her left leg gives a complaining cracking sound as it breaks farther, sending stabs of pain all up her pinned side.

"Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze." She continues to swear. The words and fury helping keep her conscious.

Liara comes into her view next, shifting Tali to the side she orders. "Hold her steady. Try not to move Shepard. You could have spinal damage. And you certainly won't do your leg or lung any good shifting."

"No shit." Shepard hisses back.

"We need to get the weight off of her. Wrex put your shotgun away. You need to move him. Fast is probably the best course of action." Liara orders the krogan, then turns back to Shepard. "Try and hold still. This is going to hurt."

The weight on top of her shifts shooting numbing pain down her side and up from her leg. Clamping her mouth tight on another cry of pain she bites her tongue until it bleeds. Adding to the blood already in her mouth. She turns her head to the side, coughing and spitting it out. She sees Wrex has rolled the body off of her. Another quake rolls under them, the tower practically screaming from its over stressed joints.

"We have to move." Wrex growls out, then kneels down next to her. "I'm sorry Shepard, this is necessary."

Knowing what he plans to do, she nods her head firmly. Biting her tongue harder, clenching her jaw tight, preparing herself as best she can.

"Wait!" Liara cries as Wrex swiftly picks up Shepard, one arm holding her head and neck, the other under her knees. She can't help the scream that escapes her. Her lung protests further, and she coughs up more blood. "We can't move her! Be careful!"

"No time." Wrex grunts as he starts to run. His long, loping stride sending more and more jolts of pain through her, as he and the women run out of the chamber through a tunnel. Mercifully, his jump from the catwalk outside the tunnel into the Normandy's docking bay is the final straw and she passes out.


	21. Chapter 21

Author's Note: Here's installment one of you TGIF gift. This week I will not be uploading for the next two days. My birthday is on Sunday, so I will be away from for the majority of tomorrow and Sunday.

This chapter and the next couple are all left of canon. Mostly fillers, and plot/character development. But, fear not. They will still be fun and adventurous chapters.

Yay for Bioware!

* * *

Chapter twenty one

Images and sounds of the Beacon flash and flicker through her brain, like antique Nickelodeon films. Random and piercing into her mind. A massive metal hand of a ship reaches out to her, a red eye glowing bright at its core.

Shepard's eyes snap open, a sharp intake of air into her lungs comes as a gasp. Pain explodes everywhere. A dull aching pain, all of her body is aflame. She tries to sit up, asses the damage.

rushes to her side, laying a hand on her shoulder, she presses her firmly back into the bed. "Stay right there. No bouncing right up this time."

Shepard glares at the doctor. "What happened? I feel like I got steamrolled."

"Very nearly. That's what having a krogan charge into you feels like I presume."

"Oh. Right." Shepard closes her eyes and sighs, "I'd hoped that was part of the nightmare." Opening her eyes she sees Chakwas over her.

"Sad to say not." Chakwas flashes a light in her eyes. "Reflexes look good. I'll raise the bed a bit for you. But you are not leaving it for some time yet."

As the bed eases up to a more comfortable angle Shepard thumps her head back into growling. "How bad is it?"

"Better than I would have expected. In all honesty, you should be dead. Krogan charges are rarely ever survivable."

"I think him being killed two seconds before hitting me the second time accounts for that."

"He hit you twice?" Shepard cringes at the glare Chakwas delivers.

"Maybe. The first really counted more as a shove or throw. It was a less successful flying lesson than those before." Chakwas' glare intensifies. "Tali didn't tell you about those?"

"No, she neglected to inform me of more than one 'flight lesson' as you call them."

"They weren't quite so painful."

"No doubt. You have four cracked ribs across your upper chest, one punctured your left lung. One of your vertebral ribs punctured your kidney, causing internal bleeding. You are beyond lucky it didn't cause sepsis. Your right collar bone is broken, right shoulder dislocated. Not to mention the wound there is reopened. You have a moderate to severe concussion. Again lucky your skull did not crack. Your left pelvis is cracked, your left femur is cracked and fractured. You won't be walking unassisted on it for at least two weeks."

Shepard whistles. "I really did a number on myself, didn't I?" She can't help chuckling.

"You had best be thankful for modern medicine." Chakwas scolds. "If we still had the medicine of a hundred years ago, you would be laid up for weeks, in physical therapy for months. As it is, you will not be leaving here for another day or two, and will not be walking on that leg without crutches or a cane for at least a week if not longer. You can take your arm out of the sling by the end of the week."

"Aw, doc!" She groans, "C'mon, give a girl a break. I've got things that need doing. I still have to check out Noveria and Feros. Not to mention the missing marines I can't wait a week or more to do it."

"I've directed Joker to take us to Noveria. He says it will take us three days to reach Noveria, you can spend that time healing. It's a civilized enough place, I think I can trust you not to get into any fire fights."

Shepard opens her mouth to argue, "Noveria isn't-"

"Not another word. Or I'll sedate you for the next week." Chakwas sounds truly pissed this time as she turns and walks to the front of the med bay and sits at her desk.

"She really cares about you." A warm, weary voice says from her left.

Shepard turns and sees Liara standing nervously in the doorway to the lab.

Shepard just snorts. "She said something like that once. Doesn't mean I have to like a mother hen."

Liara steps closer. "I'm, um, I'm glad you're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Steamrolled is an apt description."

"I'm afraid I have no idea what that means. But it sounds painful." She steps up beside the bed, reaching for an IV near Shepard, "I can give you some painkillers."

Shepard lays her good hand over Liara's. "No." It sounds too fierce, forceful, she tries to soften the word, "No, thanks. I'd rather not. I don't get along with pain meds." She shifts a bit, "I'm good. Honest. I've felt worse."

"Alright." The young woman looks down, a blush mantling her cheeks, "I wanted to thank you. For saving me."

"No prob." Shepard reaches out and lifts Liara's face up. "Truly. I was happy to help."

"I would surely be dead now, were it not for you. I owe you a great debt."

"I'd say helping save my life counts. The Trickster put me there for you, and you for me. No debt is owed."

"The Trickster?" Liara shows confusion. "Who is this?"

Shepard looks uncomfortable, uneasy. "It's, it's hard to explain who he is. He's, well, he's a god, of sorts. One I believe in. He is mischief, and luck, he governs fate in a way. He is jokes, and sarcasm, pranks, tricks, and chaos."

"A god? You believe in more than one? I thought Humanity only worshiped their one god. Like asari and our Goddess."

A scowl crooks Shepard's face. "Not all humanity conforms to that religion. I believe in many more than just one true god."

"This Trickster does not sound like a god that would be wise to worship."

Shepard gives a lopsided grin that Liara finds pulls at something in her heart. "On the contrary, it's very wise to worship and appease the Trickster. He can make all kinds of trouble in someone's life, has for me on many an occasion."

"Why choose to believe in such a god?" Liara is confused by this human, so different than those she had read and heard about. They were all projected to be liars, cheats, and hostile. Untrustworthy creatures that were barely more than primates. This woman is anything but such.

"I feel like he is the only one that is real. My Goddess and God are present. I know them to exist. But they have never shown me favor. The Trickster however. He has shown me plenty of both favor and trials."

"Oh." Is all Liara says. Shepard gets the impression that the asari doesn't understand at all. "I should, I should be going. You need rest. I just wanted to be sure you are well, and to thank you."

Shepard is startled and bothered that she is going, their talk seemed to be going well. "Alright then. You're welcome. And my thanks." Liara simply blushes more, nods her head, then hurries back to the lab.

Shepard lies there for a time. Looking up at the ceiling, not really thinking on much. She just lets her thoughts wander from one thing to another until she slips asleep, still lost in thoughts.

The next day sees Shepard sitting up in bed after a breakfast of oatmeal and fruit, and only a small cup of coffee. Her right arm in its sling, her left hand has a datapad in it, and two more are lying haphazardly on the tray among her breakfast leavings.

"Reports." She mutters. Quickly scrolling through the information on the datapad. "Reports, reports. How dull." She's not really paying attention to what they say. Carelessly she tosses this datapad on top of the others, pushing the tray away,

She looks over at the empty desk of Chakwas'. The doctor is out for the moment. And Shepard entertains the idea of slipping out of the medbay. The restlessness and boredom are driving her nuts. Slowly easing her feet off the edge of the bed, the scrubs she is wearing are silent. Her bare feet rest on the cool deck. She has to take a rest, re-center her swimming head and uneasy stomach. The IV still in her arm gives an annoying tug. She grimaces at it, then pops it free. The little bit of bleeding is annoying but she ignores it.

With her head steady now, She uses her left hand alone to slowly push herself to stand. Her left leg lights up in fierce pain as she puts weight on it. A soft groan escapes her. Looking around for a crutch of some kind her eyes focus on one leaning against the wall between the far biobed and the desk.

She grits her teeth and, as carefully as she can, hobbles over to the crutch. Getting it positioned under her left side, it provides instant relief. She works her way, quicker now, to the medbay doors. They slide open and she sees an empty mess. Thankful for her luck. She carefully goes to the lift. taking it down to Engineering.

Adams is there to greet her. "Commander. I'm surprised to see you up and about. Chakwas let you out already?"

She shrugs her shoulders, "Not really. I'm playing hooky. Medbay is boring, and reading reports I swear I can feel my brain cells dying."

"I feel your pain." He chuckles. "So, what brings you down here?"

"Good place to hide, plus it's been too long since I've gotten honestly dirty in a while. Do you have anything I can help with?"

He is slightly startled at first but quickly recovers. "You're gonna get those scrubs filthy."

She looks down at the dull blue-gray scrubs and just shrugs. "I don't like 'em much anyway."

"Very well then." He hands her a set of tools. "Time to get dirty then. I've got a couple small spaces you can fit in and set to rights."

"Aye aye, sir." She jokes with him. Dusting her hands together and accepting the box of tools from him.


	22. Chapter 22

Author's Note: Part two of TGIF. Enjoy it, and I will see you guys again on Monday!

Bioware owns all

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Chapter twenty two

Chakwas is only momentarily surprised upon returning to the medbay from the lab to find her charge missing. Her talk with Liara had lasted barely more than a half an hour. When she had entered the lab, Shepard was upright in bed with breakfast and reports around her. Now, the bed is empty, and the reports are laying on the tray with the breakfast leavings.

She pinches her nose and shakes her head, muttering. "That woman is impossible."

"Is everything alright Doctor?" Liara asks stepping out of the lab. "Oh. Where's the Commander?"

"I have no idea, but I'm gonna shackle her that bed when I find her." She strides determinedly from the medbay. Liara feels maybe she is exaggerating, but follows the doctor any way. They begin to search the ship, asking crew members if they have seen the errant Commander. None have, and Chakwas is getting increasingly frustrated, though Liara notes she hides it well.

The ensign Jacobs comes up the lift from the cargo bay as Liara and Chakwas are returning from the CIC, having not found the Commander.

"Excuse me, Ensign Jacobs?" Chakwas stops the young woman. "Did you see the Commander down in the cargo hold?"

"Yes, Ma'am." She answers, "Not in the hold, she is in Engineering, happy as a lark. Her, Tali, and Lieutenant Adams are down there swapping stories and talking mechanics. I got lost once they started discussing carburetors. I don't even know what that is." She nods respectfully at Chakwas, then continues to the mess.

A scowl creases Chakwas' brow for a moment then she takes a deep breath and boards the lift, Liara behind her.

"What is a carburetor?" Liara asks. "And why would the Commander talk mechanics? She is a soldier."

"It's an old antique type of engine from before spaceflight. I don't know how or why carburetors entered the conversation, but Shepard has significant engineering skills that she learned in the Alliance training programs."

The lift gives a soft chime as it settles on the lower deck and the door slides open. Chakwas wastes no time almost quick marching back to engineering. The sight that greets her, only aggravates her more.

Shepard is laying on her back under a console. Her left leg stretched out flat on the deck, her right bent at the knee. Her right arm is still secured in the sling, but smeared with grease. The scrubs are more black than their original blue gray. Her left arm is deep into the bottom of the console up to her elbow. Tali is laying under the side of the console, both her hands up in it to help Shepard. Adams is kneeling beside them. All three are exchanging excited conversation, instructions for the repair, and talking about mechanics avidly.

Chakwas props her hands on her hips and barks out. "Commander Shepard! You are supposed to be resting."

Shepard jumps at the sound of Chakwas' voice. Sliding out she sits up too soon and bounces her head off the edge of the console. Tali snickers, Adams snorts a laugh, and Shepard rubs the offended part spreading grease from her left hand across her brow.

Liara has to cover her mouth to stop the smile from being seen. She finds the Commander amusing to see, so opposite of the woman she has been seeing so far. There is a happy, contented expression on her face. Almost peaceful.

Shepard waves her left hand in indication. "Look. See? I am resting. My leg is not being moved, my arm still in its sling. And I'm laying down, well, was laying down." This does not ease the disappointment on Chakwas' face.

"That is not what was meant. Neither is it truly resting. You have to give your body time to heal."

"It's healing just fine, and I'm finding something to keep me busy. I don't do sitting still well, doc." She gives her lopsided grin.

"Obviously." Chakwas sniffs. "You've been awake for less than twelve hours after severe trauma. There is a reason for a constant twenty four hour observation afterwards. Anything could happen. Your body is still reorienting itself. Still healing."

"You left me unobserved earlier. It's how I got away."

"I'm aware of that. A mistake not to be repeated. And you weren't entirely unobserved. Those beds aren't just to sleep on. They were monitoring your vitals. Here, anything could happen."

Shepard waves to Adams and Tali. "I've been observed all morning. If anything happened, I'm sure you'd be the first to know."

"I would prefer you were under the observation of a _doctor_."

Liara sees that this debate could last awhile. Both women seem to be equally matched in obstinacy. "Doctor, I will stay and keep an eye on her. I am a doctor after all."

"No offense, my dear." Chakwas says kindly, "But you are a scientist, not a medical doctor."

"I know about basic medicine, and am well trained in general and trauma care."

Shepard is amused to see that the asari is showing a stubborn streak. "See? I like that idea. She's a doc, she'll keep an eye on me. And I can still work."

"I will consent to her keeping an eye on you, it's obvious you won't stay in the medbay. But you will not continue working. You need rest. You can do so in your own quarters."

Shepard starts to object, but relents under Chakwas' intense stare. She sighs, "Very well." She grabs her crutch from nearby and pushes herself to one knee.

Liara steps forward to help. "Let me-"

Shepard waves her off. "I got this." She interrupts. Using the crutch to push herself to a stand. Her head swims momentarily. But she forces herself not to wobble or give even the barest sign of uneasiness. Chakwas will surely recant her deal. Carefully, she tries to walk as stiffly she can to the lift. Back ramrod straight, head high, and steps, however uneven, firm. She is sure her DI would be proud. Though, he'd probly take the crutch and tell her to suck it up. Once in the lift she lets out a soft sigh. Liara is standing just off her left side. Ready to catch her if she stumbles.

"Hey, uh. Thanks for sticking up for me." Shepard says looking at her.

Liara smiles at the Commander, "It appeared that neither of you would concede to the other."

Shepard rubs at the back of her neck with her left hand, "Yeah, it's probly not best to argue with the doc. But I hate infirmaries of any kind." The lift stops on the crew deck and Shepard steps out and makes her way to her cabin.

Liara can see the exertion is tiring the commander, but doesn't say anything. Impressed by this woman's resilience.

Once inside the cabin, Shepard sits on the edge of the bed and lays the crutch against the bed beside her. "You don't have to sit with me. I promise to stay put." She gives a wry smile.

Liara ducks her head to hide a blush, "It's alright. I don't mind."

"I'm afraid I'm not much of one for conversation. I'm not interested in all that Prothean scientificey stuff like you."

Liara gets control of her blushing and looks up. "I actually had a question I'd like to ask you. If you don't mind."

Shepard raises one of her eyebrows, it gives her a quizzical look to Liara. "Questions for me? Whatever for? I've not got much to talk about."

"Oh no!" Liara cries out, excitement in her voice, "I find you very fascinating. You are so unlike what I expected of humans."

"What did you expect?" The eyebrow goes down and Shepard tilts her head to the side.

"Well, I always thought that humans weren't very advanced or inventive. It was impressed upon me, and I believed, that humans were all selfish and bullying their way into Citadel society. I was told your militia was all brawn and no brain." She realizes what she's saying and how it might come across and hurries to apologize, stuttering over herself. "Oh no, um. I'm sorry. It's not that I think that of you! Just, what I was told. I never had experience with your kind. I never had reason to doubt. Oh dear." She blushes fiercely and covers her face in her hands. "What a fool you must think I am."

To her surprise Shepard barks out a cackling laughter. And she fights not to cry. "Just great, now you're laughing at me!" She wails to herself.

Shepard's laughs stop as abruptly as they started. "Hey, hey. I'm not laughing at you."

Liara looks up, trying to choke back sniffles and sobs. "You..you weren't?"

"Oh no. I was amused at how you were taught to perceive humans. Like we are gorillas. What's funny, is we were, eons ago."

"Gor-Gorillas?" Liara wipes her face dry, looking at the Commander. Shepard is smiling kindly at her. Merriment twinkling in her eyes. "I have not heard of them."

"They're animals back on earth. Big, fierce, brutes of an animal."

"Oh, well. No, that's not how I see you." She gets her composure back.

"That's good. I like to think myself more like a monkey than a gorilla."

It takes a moment for Liara to realize Shepard is teasing her. "Right, I suppose that is better."

Shepard chuckles once, "In a way. You said you had a question for me?"

"What?" Liara is thrown off balance by the shift in topic. "Oh, yes. Before, when you were injured by the krogan. You were saying something. It didn't sound like incoherent muttering."

"It wasn't" Shepard looks down at her lap. "It's another language."

"My translator didn't recognize it."

"No, it wouldn't. It's not something that is spoken much anymore. It's called Chinese, specifically it's the Mandarin dialect."

"Humans have more than one language?"

Shepard looks up, chuckling. "I don't even know how many languages we've had. Not many survive anymore. I only know of three others besides English that are still spoken. Spanish, French, and Italian."

"Why only these three?"

"French and Italian are popular languages of food styles. Spanish has been one of the most popular second languages for so long."

Liara puzzles this in her head. She's never heard of a species speaking multiple languages. Some have one or two ancient languages that evolved into one. But never so many that only four still survive. Or why one race that is all similar has so many. Seems awfully confusing and inefficient if they could not understand each other. Her mind returns to what Shepard had said when hurt. "What did the words mean? Das-hian bow?"

Shepard can't help a cringe, "Don't try and speak it. You'll sound like you're gargling water." she has her lopsided grin again. Something about the grin pulls at Liara, in a pleasant way. A pang of, something, unknown.

"What does it mean?"

"Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze" Liara, hearing Shepard say it clearly, can see how someone not versed in it might sound as Shepard described.

"It sounds pleasant." She gives Shepard a smile and is surprised when the Commander snorts loudly, choking on a laugh. "What?"

She laughs a couple times then smiles, "It means, 'The explosive diarrhea of an elephant'." She chuckles at this.

Liara wrinkles her nose in distaste. She remembers a vid she had seen once with these 'Elephants' in it. She would not want to be around the reality of that phrase. "What relevance does it have to the situation?"

"None, really. Just a way of swearing, of releasing tension and frustration. Though, in hindsight. It could describe that krogan." She trails off with a hum.

It surprises a laugh from Liara. "Oh, I think not."

"I dunno." The Commander muses, "Big, stinky, heavy, putrid, explosive. An apt description."

"You are incorrigible."

"I'm a marine." Is the only answer she gives. Her mouth wide with her lopsided grin. It lights up her eyes. Both happy and mischievous.

The conversation trails off for a time. Both women seem lost in thought. Liara's are focused on Shepard and the strange emotions and feelings this woman instills in her.

Shepard watches Liara. Seeing the asari in a fresh lab suit, tunic and leggings, she is surprised at how well they hug curves. What she can see is pleasant. She has seen many asari, and each has their own beauty. But those were mostly dancers, putting out those images, projecting confidence in their beauty.

Liara though, she is quiet, shy. Like a timid mouse. Something about her intrigues Shepard. She wants to get to know her better. Learn about what excites her. Her likes and dislikes, dreams and hopes. Fears and strengths. She brings her mind up short. She can't think that way. This woman is Benezia's daughter. She may not take too kindly to Shepard hunting down her mother. Unconsciously she begins humming her tune, not really thinking on it.

Liara sees the Commander begin to sway. side to side. A soft humming coming from her. "Shepard?"

Liara's voice snaps her out of her reverie. "Hmm?" She tilts her head up to look at Liara.

"You were swaying. Are you feeling drowsy?"

"Drowsy?" Shepard repeats. "Oh. No. I was, humming a tune."

"And swaying in time?" Liara suspects it had more to do with exhaustion.

"Sure. Don't you ever move with the music?" She is beginning to tire. But doesn't want to give in to it.

"You mean dance?" Liara is confused, but amused by Shepard's deflection.

"Yeah, something like that."

"By one's self? No, never."

Shepard gives her a sly smile, "Do you dance, at all?"

"Asari are naturally graceful." Liara says, defensively, "We are taught to dance at a very young age. Though our dances are nothing like what the universe sees of us. We have pattern and figure dances. Each step and movement is carefully balanced and poised with the rest of the dancers."

"Sounds delightful, But, do _you_ dance?"

Liara sits straighter, irritated at this woman needling her. "Of course I do!" She sniffs. In truth, she's a miserable dancer. But it's not like Shepard would ever know. The prospect of dancing during this mission doesn't seem very likely.

Shepard's grin goes from a small amused one, to one that gives Liara the shivers. It's her lopsided one, but much different. More predatory. "Care to show me?"

"Sh-show you?" Liara is startled. Shepard? Wants her to dance?

"Yeah, you know. _Dance_ with me." That grin spreads wider.

"I, um. um." She stutters, her mind screaming at her to say something. Anything! "You, you want me to, to dance with you? Now?"

"Now's a good a time as any."

"But, but. You're injured." Ah, there's an angle out of this awkward situation. How did this get so complicated?

"I could figure out a way."

Suddenly Liara is feeling over hot. Flushed all over. She wishes she was anywhere but here. Her heart is racing. Each beat feeling like a thousand. she knows she's blushing fiercely now. She stands, "Um, excuse me. I, I need to go." She turns to leave.

Shepard stands up, her weight mostly on her right leg, and reaches out. "Wait.." but it's too late as Liara rushes out of the room.

Shepard flops backward onto the bed. "I'm such a fèirén." She groans, slapping herself in the face, covering her eyes. "What was I thinking? She's mortified now!" Growling her frustration she sits back up, dropping her hand. Looking down she sees, she is still wearing the greased smudged scrubs. "Wow, even more of a fèirén. No wonder she ran. I look like shit." She grumbles. Grabbing her crutch she works her way to the head. A shower is much needed.

She continues berating herself as she carefully strips and takes a shower. "What was I thinking? Flirting with her?" She leans against the shower wall, the hot water running down her back.

She thumps her forehead against the wall. "Idiot. Idiot. Why did I do that?" The unforgiving bulkhead has no answer for her.

Stepping out of the shower, she carefully pulls on a pair of her civvie jeans, and a black tank top. She eases her right arm back into the sling. She puts the crutch under her arm and steps out of her cabin. Intending to go to Liara, she has to stop to rest at one of the mess tables.

"Commander?" Garrus steps up to the table. "I thought Chakwas had you on bed rest." He sits down opposite her.

She shrugs, "I don't do bed rest. Did you see Liara go by a while ago?"

"Yes. She went back into the medbay lab."

"Of course she did." She says, she leans her elbow on the table and braces her head.

"You alright, Shepard?" Garrus touches her arm.

She looks up at him. She tries to give him a reassuring smile. "I'm alright."

"I think not. You should go lie down. You look pale and worn out."

"Honest, I'm fine."

"You got hit by a krogan and only woke up just over twelve hours ago. You should be sleeping."

"I'm too busy to sleep." She grabs the crutch and pushes herself to her feet. "I need to go talk to Liara."

Garrus gently grabs her arm on the crutch. "Go back to bed Shepard." He says firmly, not unkindly though.

She tries to jerk out of his hold and stumbles back. "Will you lay off of it?"

"I could get Chakwas. I'm sure she'd love to sedate you and tie you to the bed." He gives her arm a gentle push back towards her cabin. "Now, can you make it back to your cabin, on your own?"

She gives him her best 'eat shit and die' glare, then slowly makes her way back to her cabin. At the door she looks back, hoping he had left. He winks and gives her a shooing motion with his hands. She glares harder and enters her quarters.

Laying down on her rack she looks up at the overhead, letting her thoughts roam. What a day. She boots up her omni tool and brings up the media player. Selecting her folk music category she lets it play out through her cabin. Humming to the strings and pipes melodies she finally fades into sleep.


	23. Chapter 23

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. I know I said I'd return yesterday. But my nose got buried in a new book, so yeah.

Anyways, here's the new goodies. Kelly gets to meet an old friend. Very much a left of canon chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter twenty three

The Noveria security team stops Shepard and her squad at the docks. The tall dark haired captain speaks. Her voice gruff and demanding. "You just stop right there. No weapons permitted on station."

Shepard sighs. "Look, I'm a Spectre."

"Like hell." One of the guys behind her snorts.

"Snap it Owens." The captain barks at him. "Look, Spectre or not. Our regs are strict. No outside personnel can bring weapons aboard."

"Well, we aren't parting from our weapons." Shepard reflexively drops her right hand to hold her pistol. Thankful her arm is out of the sling. Her shoulder is still too weak to raise the pistol fast, but this woman doesn't know that. "Surely we can come to a compromise."

"Afraid not Ma'am."

Shepard lets out a sigh. "Is there someone I can talk to about this? I'm not leaving my weapons, you aren't gonna let me on. Surely there is someone who can facilitate an agreement?"

The captain looks frustrated, then resigned. "Yeah. Ms. Parasini can arrange something." She guides Shepard, Tali, Kaidan, and Liara. Shepard was surprised when Liara asked to come along for this mission.

They had spoken the night before about Benezia and Shepard's reasons for seeking her. Liara had confided she knew nothing of her mother's plans. After the conversation they had in her quarters two days ago, Shepard suspected Liara couldn't lie to save her life. That woman was so open and honest, and flummoxed so easily, that Shepard doubted she was involved in whatever her mother was up to.

"Here." the captain says gruffly. Shepard comes to a stop at a counter, there are various consoles behind. The walking area extends around to the right then back left and out of sight. "Parasini!" The captain calls out.

A tall black woman comes out from around the corner. A pleasant smile on her face. "Hello. Gianna Parasini, Executive Assistant to Administrator Anoleis of Port Hanshan."

Shepard smiles and extends her right hand to shake. "That's quite the mouthful."

"I can't seem to find a way to shorten it. Secretary just sounds too silly. I do much more than be his pencil pusher." she returns Shepard's shake. "How can I help you, Ms..?" She leaves the end open. Inviting Shepard to introduce herself.

"Commander." she corrects. "Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance and Council Spectre. We are trying to get a security clearance for our weapons."

"Spectre? Well of course you have immediate clearance!" The woman types out something on one of the console's holo interface. "Well! We rarely ever get Spectres out here. Do you mind if I ask what brings you our way?"

Shepard shakes her head slightly, "I know of the rather shady thing some of the companies around here do. I'm not here because of that. I'm here looking for an asari Matriarch. I received words she came here."

"I'm sorry, you just missed her. She came and passed through earlier this week. before the blizzard came upon us."

"She's gone? She's offworld already?" Liara exclaims, her voice slightly high pitched.

"No, she's still on the surface. Just up at the Peak 15 research camp."

"How do I get there?" Shepard interjects.

"I'm afraid you can't. The blizzard is getting worse. There will be no traffic coming or going from the port."

"Fine. Give me the coordinates and I'll land my ship there directly."

"I'm sorry, but with the blizzard, protocol says we cannot allow any ships to land or launch until the storm has passed."

Shepard growls. "You have _got_ to be kidding me."

"I'm sorry." The woman replies again. "You have clearance to go through security now. Feel free to make yourselves comfortable until the storm passes." She turns and walks back out of sight.

"Well." Kaidan says, "I guess that's that."

"There has to be a way." Shepard walks stiffly with her cane. Her and Chakwas has a vehement debate over that. Chakwas wanted her on the crutch. Shepard refused to look weak. Better a modest cane than a crutch.

"Ms. Parasini said she works for the Administrator of the Port. Maybe he can provide us with transportation to the facility." Tali suggests as they step up to security. Their group raises the eyebrows of the security checkpoint guards.

On the other side Shepard looks around the station. It has the look and feel of spaceports back on earth. Everything clean, neat, and expectant. There are three separate tiers to the main lobby. Each separated by a waterfall that turns to a pond and stream under the clear decks. It's a little disorienting to Shepard. Looking around she see plenty of people milling around. Stuck here, waiting for the blizzard to end as well. Spaced along the stairs between tiers Shepard sees two guards on each stairwell. The two wells pass straight down from the top tier where her and her crew stand.

"Well. First off, I need a good drink and maybe a bite to eat as well."

"You are thinking of food and drink now?" Liara asks, her voice is hushed and clipped. "Haven't we got more important things to do?"

"Food is important. Drink is a necessity. Both can lead to eavesdropping. We all know eavesdropping on the local pub gossips is the best way to get info." Liara grudgingly agrees. "Alright then. Let's go find us a bar."

An hour later Shepard is sitting back in her chair at the table they have grabbed. She is watching the bar. She thought she saw someone familiar, and is waiting to see if they'll come back. She takes another sip from her whiskey. There. A flicker of blonde hair, platinum blonde. It weaves between the bodies clogging the bar. It ducks and disappears for a moment. Then reappears coming up from underneath some turian's arms. The body belonging to the hair leans casually against the bar. Small, lithe, the woman is only about five feet four inches. Her skin is a deep bronze color, a stark contrast to her light, almost white hair.

She turns her head to her right and Shepard freezes, her eyes locked on the woman's vibrant green eyes, with their unmistakable gray and silver starburst in the irises. Disbelief and joy jolting Shepard. She drops her feet from their prop on the table. Grabbing her cane she quickly stands up. Kaidan and Liara both start to rise to help, Shepard waves them back down. Liara follows Shepard's gaze to a small woman walking their way. She is wearing green and brown cargo pants, similar to Shepard's ship blues. The woman has on just a brown tank top.

Shepard's face lights up in a crooked grin. Her arms spreading wide as the women hug each other briefly.

"Look at you!" The woman cries.

"Look at me?" Shepard laughs, "Look at you!" the two women step apart, laughing. Then begin walking in circles around each other.

Liara turns to Kaidan, "What are they doing? Does the Commander know that woman?" She hisses in his ear.

Kaidan looks up from the data pad he was reading. He sees Shepard and the other woman walking around each other. "It would seem they do know each other."

"What are they doing though?" Liara asks. The circling has mostly ended, now each is throwing light, fake punches at each other. "It's like watching some animal territorial stand off."

Kaidan can't help the snort that comes out. "That's one way to put it. They are probly old friends, and haven't seen each other in a long time." Kaidan goes back to his reading.

"Oh." Liara remains turned around, watching the two women begin to talk.

"Look at you Kelly." The woman laughs a higher pitched chirping laugh, "Getting yourself all respectable. Commander in the Alliance, and now a god damned Council Spectre."

"Not all of us can remain merchs forever Deunan, you sly dog." She gives Deunan a light cuff on her shoulder. "What are you doing out here?"

"Good money, nice hours. Groundside is always preferable."

"So says the Spacer." Shepard scoffs. She puts an arm around Deunan's shoulders. "Come on, meet some of my crew." She tows her over to the table they have.

Tali is the first to rise and extend her hand. "I'm Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

Deunan smiles and returns the quarian's shake. "Deunan Knute. Good to meet ya." Tali nods then resumes her seat.

Kaidan stands next, "Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Good to know an old war buddy of Shepard's."

Deunan chuckles. "At one point, we are not Alliance mates. Didn't she tell you?"

Shepard glowers at Deunan. "No I didn't. It's in the file if they want to know."

"Aw, save 'em the trouble, Kelly." Deunan turns to Kaidan. "Her and I met when a merch group was hiring freelancers. Must've been, nearly fifteen years ago now."

Kaidan raises an eyebrow at Shepard. "Merch?" He asks his voice slightly disbelieving.

Shepard cuffs Deunan across the back of her head as she returns to her seat. "_Ex-_merch." She grumbles. "_Ex._"

Liara stands and extends her hand out. She isn't sure why, but she feels jealous of this woman, she has an uneasiness about her. She pushes those feelings away and smiles pleasantly at the human woman. "I'm T'Soni." Deunan's handshake is firm, but not intimidating.

"Kelly's tastes have improved." Deunan smiles and whistles slightly. Liara is confused by this comment, deciding to ignore it as she sits back down.

Shepard shoots Deunan a warning look, "I heard that Deunan. Leave her alone." propping her feet back up on the table, she reclines back. "Have a seat, and I might buy you a drink."

Deunan gives Liara a wink and a smile. She then turns one of the chairs around backwards. Straddling it she sits with her arms propped on the back of the chair. Her sleeveless shirt leaves the tattoos on her arms very visible.

Liara is amazed at the detail of the black lines as they wind about in an elaborate knot work on her arms, from her wrists up to her shoulder. She even has some that extend up her shoulders and neck. "I love your tattoos. I've never seen any human women with them." Liara leans over to her right to look closer at the tattoos.

Deunan chuckles and holds out her left arm for Liara to admire. She catches Shepard's eye and winks, then slides her eyes toward Liara, then back to Shepard's, another wink. "You should see Kelly's. She's got a couple nice ones."

Liara turns towards Shepard, "You have tattoos as well?"

Shepard shrugs her shoulders while giving Deunan a dark glare. "Yeah. A Celtic knot on my back and a raven on my shoulder blade." She looks back at Deunan, "If we're done being a chomhréire an ghrá?" She glares hard, making sure Deunan gets the message, knowing that her Gaelic term is not missed.

Deunan just grins and shrugs her shoulders, reaching forward she steals Shepard's whiskey. "I'm good."

Liara looks between Deunan and Shepard, that uneasy feeling back, the one that is both pleasant and troubling. This time it is tinged by jealousy of Deunan. What is the matter with her?

Deunan knocks back the entire whiskey. "So, what brings you to Noveria, Kelly?"

"We're looking for an asari Matriarch. Parasini said she went up to Peak 15."

"Yep, I know of her." Liara's flinch and widening eyes is not missed by Deunan. She notes it, but files it away in her mind. Kelly will tell her if there's something worth knowing. "Hate to burst your bubble. But you aren't getting over there. They've grounded the shuttles."

"I heard about that. So we won't use a shuttle." Shepard grins her wolf's grin.

Tali groans when she sees it. "Oh Keelah. What now Shepard?"

Shepard laughs hard, then drops her chair back to all four legs. "Tell me Deunan, you wouldn't happen to know where there might be some decent snow craft around here, would you?"

Deunan shows her own wolf's grin. "I know just the thing for you."


	24. Chapter 24

Author's Note: Got a shorter chapter for you guys today. Life is getting busy and you guys are catching up to me. This could be a problem. I'll do my best to continue a chapter a day, but we may miss a day or two coming up.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter twenty four

"No. No. Absolutely not." Chakwas orders firmly. She has just stepped into Shepard's quarters in time to see the Commander putting on her hard suit. A young woman she doesn't know is helping her. Shepard has her under armor on and is fastening her right arm guards on while the other woman does her legs pieces.

Shepard looks up, her face somewhere between a grin and a grimace. "Got no choice doc. We have Geth out there. We're gonna have to take a ground vehicle into the blizzard. Kinda need hardsuits on to protect from frostbite and hypothermia."

The other woman finishes on her legs and stands up. Turning around she extends her hand to Chakwas, "Name's Deunan, Deunan Knute. Kelly here, her and I go a ways back."

Chakwas shakes her hand. "I'm sure you do." She turns to look at Shepard, the scowl never leaves her face. "You can be protected from the elements right here, on your ship."

Deunan brings Shepard's chest and back plates over, "Here, these next." She says, beginning to do up the straps as Shepard continues her discussion with Chakwas.

"Benezia is at one of the remote research stations, doubtless she knows we're here. If we wait for this storm to pass, she could slip right through our hands."

Deunan steps back from Shepard, having gotten the last pieces secured. "Move around in that, tell me how I did."

Shepard rolls her shoulders around, a faint twinge of pain from the right, nothing major. The suit seems to be padding it well. She then rolls her neck, cracking out all the stiffness. Next she lifts her arms above her head, stretches high, feeling the slight burning feeling of the stretch down through her ribs, the recently healed ones feel fine. "All seems good. Ready to crack some heads together." She smiles at Deunan, relaxing her stretch.

"You are in no shape to be fighting commander." Chakwas reminds Shepard. "Look, I know how it is. You have a mission to do. But you have got to look after yourself. Give your body time to heal."

Shepard cautiously steps forward on her left leg, a slight groaning pain runs up it, but it holds her weight fine. She takes a few more steps, walking around Chakwas. "Look. See? No pain. No cracking, no blood. I'm good."

Chakwas looks critically over Shepard's hardsuit, checking each and every seam, buckle, and stress point. "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

"Look I promise to take it easy. Ok?" Shepard reaches out and holds Chakwas' shoulder. "Promise. I'll let Ashley and Liara take point. Only be covering fire."

"You forgetting about me already, Kelly?" Deunan gives Shepard a light shove to the shoulder. Then gives Chakwas a reassuring smile, "I'll keep an eye on her doc."

"No offense, Ms. Knute, but I do not know you, and you are not a doctor."

Deunan just shrugs her shoulders. "Doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing." She turns and walks from the room.

Shepard looks reproachfully at Chakwas. "She's a good sort, and I've known her for years. We always watch each others' backs."

Chakwas just sighs and turns away. "Try to not kill yourself."

Shepard picks up her helmet from the rack and turns it over in her hands. Does Chakwas really think she goes looking for trouble? That she's keen to get her face bashed in? She shakes these questions from her head. Clipping the helmet to her belt she walks out of her cabin. She is proud that she doesn't even limp as she walks. The suit is doing its job well and supporting her thigh and hip, so they can hold her weight. Still, there is some minor pain, so she'll have to be careful.

She walks to the quarterdeck through the CIC. Thinking on how this mission is going to play out. They are going to have to take something from the Port's garage. Their Mako isn't designed to handle blizzards. She hopes that there will be a Grizzly vehicle. Those are the precursor to the mako, big, tough, and heavy. Perfect for what they need. She'd love it if the M29A variant was there, turret ready to go. But she'll take the M29B if she has to. She'll just have to pray they don't meant any real resistance without a turret to shoot.

At the quarterdeck her squad waits for her. Ashley is in her alliance hardsuit, helmet under one arm, rifle across her shoulder, and pistol on her hip. Liara doesn't have a hardsuit, but someone has given her some upper body armor. A breast and backplate, strong and sturdy. She has light armor padding on her arms and then just some hard pads on the outside of her thighs. She does have on an under armor suit, so at least there is some kevlar protection. But that won't stop a mass accelerated slug.

'We need to get you a suit, Liara." Shepard steps over and straightens the woman's shoulder pads. She rests her arms on her shoulders a moment, "You gonna be alright? Do you need to stay behind?"

Liara blushes at the contact, but makes herself look up at Shepard. The human woman's amber eyes catch hers. Her breath momentarily leaves her, her heartbeat stops, and she wants nothing more than to be swallowed by their depths. She shakes her head fiercely. "No, no. I'll stay with you. Maybe I can help. Find out why she is doing this."

"Alright then." Shepard looks around, puzzled. "Where's Deunan?"

"She said to tell you, Ma'am." Ashley reports, "Said she would meet us at the hangar."

"Alright then. No point dawdling about here. Lets move out."

Shepard glares hard at Deunan, even pinned by two Geth heavies in the hangar, she can't help but berate her friend. "Deunan you ass! You told me you had a set of wheels for us, you did not mention they were stolen!"

"Borrowed without permission." Deunan laughs, "We'll give it back. Besides, they won't even know it's gone." She has to jump up from her cover and back peddle fast as one of the heavies comes charging her way.

Shepard swears vehemently, something that big should not move that fast. Liara catches it in a stasis field, barely a heartbeat's time before Deunan would've been splatter on the wall from its sweeping arm.

She steps back, one, two shaky steps and then to the side. She pokes the blue wreathed, immobile, hulking machine. "Damn, girl. You got rad skills."

Shepard grabs Deunan's arm and flings her back to face front, "No time to admire it. We got another to bring down." As Deunan lays down covering fire, drawing the second heavy's attention. Ashley fires on it from the other side, pinning it in indecision.

"Liara, how long is that going to hold?"

"Another minute, maybe less." The biotic begins summoning more energy to her hands.

"Go help with the other. I'll rig this guy to go boom when the stasis wears off." Liara nods and steps forward, adding her biotics into the battle of the second heavy. The combined fire and biotic assaults wear down its shields.

Turning away from the battle, Shepard regards the heavy in front of her. Staying behind it, in case the stasis fades before she finishes, it may buy her time to complete rigging it. Touching the field her hand passes through it, feeling like cold water or more like gas fog. Grinning she pulls two grenades from her belt. She plants one in the crevice joining legs to torso. She has to carefully climb the back of the Geth to reach the head joint. The stasis picks this moment to end. Leaving her clinging to the back and head of the Geth as he wastes no time clawing at his back, trying to dislodge the human.

Gritting her teeth, ducking, leaning back, and dodging the flailing hands as best she can, she gets the grenade wedge tight in the gap under its head. The moment's pause it takes to lay the grenade is opening enough for the Geth to get a hold of her weapons pack. Strong metal claws, like vices grasp hold of her and yank her over its head, wiping her forward. She frantically triggers the grenades in desperation to not be turned into a crushed tin can in her suit.

The blast rockets her away from the Geth, cracks past her shields, and the concussive force knocks the breath from her lungs as she skids across the ground on her back. Fetching up against the far wall her vision flares red, pain spasming from her injured shoulder and her ribs. She can tell at least one of them is broken again. The second grenade goes off delayed. The force of it ignites the Geth, exploding it as well. The combined concussive wave snaps her head back against the wall sending starburst of pain through her before she blacks out.


	25. Chapter 25

Author's Note: More fun stuff for you guys. Got some left of canon here, as well as on canon. Well, as on-canon as I get. Haha.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter twenty five

Liara watches Deunan carefully remove the Commander's helmet, pulling her canteen out. Wringing her hands nervously she speaks, "Um, Ms. Knute, uh, Deunan. I don't think that's a wise decision." She steps closer, kneeling down beside Shepard.

Deunan unscrews her canteen's lid and holds it up over Shepard's limp form slumped against the wall. "Trust me, it's been a sure fire cure for people knocked silly for thousands of years." With that she upends the entire bottle of water over Shepard's face and head.

She instantly snaps awake, sputtering water, and shaking it off her. Wiping her face she growls. "Who the hell?" Then her eyes focus on Deunan in front of her. "You." She glares hard. "Decided to give me a shower did ya?"

Deunan helps her to her feet. "Seemed like you needed one."

Liara steps close to Shepard, reaching for her before she nervously lets her hands drop. "How are you feeling?"

Shepard shakes her head vigorously, then combs her wet hair out of its tie and binds it back again, "Dizzy, and like I got mule kicked. My ears are ringing too. Nothing I can't shake."

"What about your previous injuries, are they worse?" The worry in Liara's eyes makes Shepard feel guilty and worried herself.

"I'm good, they're fine." She reassures Liara, "The suit absorbed most of the impact." She pats Liara's shoulder then steps past her. She sees Ashley on watch, her head and rifle on a swivel.

She stands down and turns to Shepard, "Good to see you up again, Ma'am." They clasp forearms. "You're enjoying too many naps."

Shepard laughs, "Is that what you call 'em?"

Deunan's whistles catches their attention, she's standing beside a Grizzly M29A all terrain vehicle. The kind with a turret. "Here's our ride."

Shepard and Ashley call out at nearly the same time,

"Shotgun!"

"Shotgun!" Ashley then swears, "Damn Shepard, you're fast."

Shepard just grins her lopsided wolf's grin. "Big and bad guns I will always win shotgun on."

Ashley shakes her head smiling, then her and Liara walk to the Grizzly and climb in.

Deunan starts toward the cockpit before Shepard catches her shoulder, "Oh hell no. Ashley is driving."

"No offensive Commander, but I don't drive anything bigger than a motorbike." Ashley says as Shepard and Deunan step up to the Grizzly.

Shepard groans then, even though she highly doubts it she asks Liara, "Can you drive this?"

"No Shepard. I have never driven anything."

"Never? Anything?" Shepard asks, incredulous.

"No, I never had the need to."

"Sounds like I get the glory spot." Deunan crows jumping into the driver's seat. Ashley and Liara fasten themselves into the passenger seats.

Shepard steps up into the turret, the chair is conformed to hold the rider firm and mostly comfortable. She fastens the straps and growls down to Deunan, "You had best behave yourself.

"I make no promises I cannot keep." She replies loftily then the vehicle jerks to a start and launches across the hold. Shepard just groans inwardly. Hoping Deunan has enough sense to stay on the road as opposed to the cliff sides.

An hour later her hope was in vain. Though, truth be told. It wasn't entirely Deunan's fault they were almost sideways on the right side cliff. The dozen Geth rocket troopers and the colossus were blocking the majority of the road.

"I can't get an angle on them from up here Deunan." Shepard growled, "We'll have to get down on their level."

"And get turned into pea soup by that cannon?" Deunan, while enjoying this escapade, was a bit miffed by the one colossus shot that had winged them before they sought refuge up here. It had sent them careening end over end a good fifty yards backward before she got a handle on it. "I think I'll pass on that. Anybody got any other tricks up their sleeves?"

"I have one, but it's completely harebrained." Shepard calls, unstrapping herself from the turret. "Get us back on the road, out of sight from the Geth." She quickly drops down from the seat and digs out the grenades from her pack. Four, not enough. "Anybody have any more grenades?"

"Grenades?" Liara pipes from her seat. "Why do you need grenades?"

As Deunan maneuvers the vehicle back onto level ground she brings it to a stop just out of sight of the Geth. Turning around in her seat she sees Shepard start removing her armor. "Just what is this hair brained stunt of yours?"

"Our problem is that the Geth can easily see and target the large vehicle. My plan is to get in close on foot. Bind a shit ton of grenades to a belt and lob it under the colossus. It should be enough force to rip through its undercarriage, if not, it will definitely overturn it." Shepard unfastens her breastplate and drops it to the deck. Standing in just her undersuit, she can already feel the chill of the blizzard.

"And this involves you walking into a blizzard without armor, because?" Ashley stands and gives Shepard her grenade belt, she has five.

"Because the hard suit will reflect light and make me an easy target to spot. The snow will coat my under suit and make me harder to spot. And if you drive back and forth on the cliff side, fire a few shots over their heads? They will never look to the ground for lonely me." She hooks her grenades and Ashley's together. "C'mon Deunan, hand them over. I know you have more than enough pretties tucked away on you."

Deunan stands and strips both her belt and her bandolier of grenades. "Try not to kill yourself."

"Where would the fun be in that?" Shepard loops all the grenades over her shoulder and toggles the release for the door. "Once the blast goes off, drive straight through the horde. Ashley, get in the turret, take out as many as you can. Then come back for me. It's cold outside, and I don't wanna get left behind."

With that she jumps out of the Grizzly into the howling wind of the blizzard. There is enough of a break in the snow for her to make out the direction she needs to go in. She doesn't hear the hollers behind her as Liara jumps from the Grizzly to follow her.

She does see the asari walk up beside her. "Uh-uh. No way. Turn your pretty little ass around and get back inside."

Liara gives her a stubborn glare. "You are going to need backup when the Colossus goes down. The troopers won't stay oblivious for long."

Shepard grits her teeth but doesn't argue. "Fine, if you're tagging along, keep low to the ground. We're gonna have to get wet and cold to camouflage." She crouches down in the snow, easing her way toward the crest of the hill, when she nears the top, her and Liara drop down on their bellies and slowly crawl to the edge and look over. Ashley is keeping the Geth occupied with her shots over their heads, and Deunan's driving is keeping them from getting hit in return.

Shepard slides back down the hill partway and rolls onto her back. The cold makes her hands feel like clumsy icicles, her bones are aching with the frozen air and snow pressing down on her. She begins to prime the grenades, Liara helping. Though her hands are just as cold and numb as the Commander's.

"How 'bout a nice shot of brandy when we get through this?" She jokes weakly with Liara. "Either that or we can toast our hands over the smoking ruin of that colossus when it goes down."

"Let's get it down first." Liara can't help but smile at Shepard's jokes.

"Right then." She grunts, flipping back onto her stomach and inching up the hill. Liara stays a pace behind her, crouched and ready. "Here goes nothing." Shepard grunts, pushing herself to her knees she grips the grenade belt one handed and begins to swing it like a sling. Up and around. Her arm straight, the belt's weight pulling it straight and taut, swinging in a graceful arc building momentum and speed. One of the Geth looks her way and opens fire just as she releases her prize. It sails with deadly speed and accuracy. Arching up and landing perfectly under the colossus. She doesn't have time to watch as she drops to the ground. Hugging the earth for all she is worth.

Liara stands up and takes two steps, putting her level with Shepard. She fires her pistol twice into the oncoming Geth trooper. Employing her biotics to send him reeling backwards.

Shepard grunts and grabs Liara's leg, yanking her off her feet. "No time for that." She hisses at the woman.

Liara's breath is knocked out of her when she hits the unforgiving ice and snow of the ground. She starts to turn, pressing herself up to yell at the Commander when the thwump of an explosion hits her ears. Shepard grabs her once more and shoves her into the ground. Liara instinctively covers her head with her hands, Shepard doing the same as the shock wave hits their part of the road. Roaring heat washes over them, melting the snow around them nearly instantly. Debris begins to rain down around them.

Risking a glance over the hill, she sees the devastation. The blast not only destroyed the colossus, the resulting explosion took out more than half of the troopers. Deunan roars the Grizzly past them, Ashley lighting up the remaining gunmen with her turret. Shepard pulls Liara to her feet and dusts off her suit. "Well, that worked perfectly."

Liara just looks at her. The manic gleam and crooked grin on the Commander makes her uneasy, "You enjoy these displays too much."

"What, you can't take a little heat?" Shepard and Liara make their way to the parked Grizzly not too far off.

"I don't enjoy recklessness." Liara says as she steps back into the vehicle, relishing in its warmth.

"So says the woman who jumped into a blizzard with me." Shepard grumbles. She sits down in one of the chairs and begins pulling her hard suit back on. Her right shoulder is twinging painfully from the motion of throwing the grenades. She rubs at it absently.

"That, that was different. You needed the help."

Shepard just grins and pulls on the rest of her sit in silence. Deunan sees this exchange and Liara's blush and grins before turning around and gunning the Grizzly back down the road to the facility. This was the last Geth strong hold before going over the bridge and ending at the closed garage of Peak 15.

Deunan spins the vehicle side on to the access door beside the garage. "Looks like it's time to go it on foot."

"Let's hope it's warmer in there than out here." Shepard lifts and snaps her helmet in place. Her nose and ears still aching from the cold and her snow bath. They pile out of the Grizzly and Shepard gets to work unlocking the doors into the garage. Once inside they are greeted by two Geth Destroyers, three krogan, and an untold number of troopers.

Shepard ratchets a new clip in her pistol. "Not this again." She groans as they begin their assault on the garage.


	26. Chapter 26

Author's Note: Alright, so a very unproductive, writing wise, wee has lead me to get you guys nearly caught up to where I'm writing. So, sad to say, no twofer TGIF this week.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter twenty six

"Heave ho, and down you go!" Deunan crows as she swings a dead Geth drone around by its ankles. She lets loose and it crashes into the chest of the last krogan as he comes barreling down on Liara who is on the ground, clutching her bleeding leg. The drone knocks the krogan off balance and he tumbles backwards, getting entangled in the wires and tubes of the drone.

Ashley doesn't waste any time in getting close and emptying a full round of AR ammo into his head.

Shepard rushes to Liara's side, shaking her head at Deunan's audacity. "Liara. Are you alright?"

The asari sits up straighter, removing her hand from the injury. "It is just a graze. I'll be alright."

Shepard applies some medigel and wraps a bandage tight around the wound and her leg. "That should hold it fine. C'mon. Up you go." She grips Liara's forearm as Liara grips her. She tugs her to her feet. "Put some weight on it. See how it feels."

Liara gingerly takes a step. Her right leg shakes a little, some pain radiating from the wound. but it holds her weight just fine. "I'm good. It'll be alright."

"Hey, Commander." Ashley calls out, she is on the gangways above them. "I think I found the way to the rest of the facility. I've got a door here in need of your attention though."

"Alright, we'll be right up." Shepard whistles at Deunan, she had been kneeling over the krogan, looking for anything of use. "C'mon. Ashley's found a way out. Loot bodies another time."

Deunan stands up dusting off, "Righto ma'am." She says with mock seriousness.

The door out of the garage provided little resistance to them. As they step into the hall beyond, running lights on the deck come on, and directional signs light up. Shepard glances up at them. Everything is beaten, scared, scorched, or caked with blood. Some the red of humans, some the blue of turians and asari. More prevalent than any is a black and green slime that scorches the walls, and smells strongly of sulfur and brimstone. Around these smears and piles are large insect types of creatures. Six legs, hard scaly bodies of a sickly green color, and wide mouths with rows of sharp teeth and pincers.

"That is one ugly bug." Deunan complains, holding a hand over her face, "What a stench."

Shepard pokes at one of the creatures with the tip of her boot. It makes a rustle sound, then seems to collapse on itself. Dissolving into more of the black and green sludge. "What ever it is. Let's hope there aren't anymore of them." She sets off down the hall.

Liara lingers behind a moment to collect a sample from one of them and take a quick scan with her omni tool. She then rushes to catch back up with the other women.

The rest of the trip through the station was uneventful. Save for feeling like they were walking through a ghost town. The litter of bodies, the deserted halls, and the lack of life gave the entire station an eerie presence. It was a relief to get aboard the tram that lead to the labs where it seemed all the trouble had begun.

"You're neither Geth nor bugs, so you're clean in my book." The guard captain that greeted them at the top of the elevators from the tram station lowers his gun. His body speaking volumes of his exhaustion.

Shepard signals her squad to lower their weapons as she does hers. "Well, now that we are done exchanging pleasantries. I'm looking for Matriarch Benezia. You seen her?"

"The asari?" The captain blinks at her. "Yeah, she went down to the hot labs hours ago. Hasn't been back since. That place is crawling with those bugs. I say good riddance to her."

Liara's face flushes with barely suppressed fury. "How dare you say that about an Asari Matriarch." She growls at the captain.

He holds his hands up, "Look, I haven't got any problem with you. But all our problems showed up after she arrived with those packages."

"How do we get to the hot labs?" Shepard puts a hand on Liara's shoulder to calm her.

"Down that elevator. It'll take you to bug central. The secure facilities are down there as well. You may find her there, if she's still alive."

Shepard turns away with a grunt of thanks, steering Liara into the lift. Ashley and Deunan follow. Deunan giving the captain the evil eye. "What's the matter with you?"

"He gives me the willies. Something is off about this, and he knows what it is." Deunan shrugs her shoulders, resetting her pack. "What's the plan?"

"If this is bug central as he called it." Ashley muses, "We're going to have to be ready for anything. We have no idea how these things fight or their weakness."

"They are organics, so I might be able to provide some assistance in slowing or killing them with my biotics." Liara's voice is distant, distracted.

Shepard turns to face her. "Are you gonna be alright? Are you with me?"

Liara shakes her head to clear it. "Yes Shepard. I'm with you. It's just that, she's here. We are getting close. I do not know what I could possibly say to her."

"We'll figure it out. First we've got some bug asses to kick."

The elevator doors open, all four of them fall out and take up defensive positions, expecting an onslaught. There's nothing here. The long wide room is completely empty save a man sitting on a stool propped against one of the thick glass walls. Shepard stands up, and cautiously walks over to him. Her eyes on a constant swivel. Deunan and Ashley stay to guard the elevator and Liara follows her up to the man.

His hand is pressed over his right side, black blood dripping between his fingers. His color is pale, breathing shallow. "Oh, help. You're here to help." His voice is weak and ragged.

Shepard can tell this man is going to die very soon, and she needs information. "Who are you? Why are you down here, what happened?"

"It doesn't matter. The rachni, they escaped our control. They became ravenous, mindless animals. We," he stops as coughs interrupt him, "We tried, to destroy them. but too many had gotten away, too many of us dead."

"The _rachni_?" Shepard hisses, Liara gasps her surprise too. "The rachni have been dead for thousands of years."

"Not all. One ship, a queen survived. drifting in cryo on the fringes of the terminus. We recovered her. brought her here to breed. We failed. the drones couldn't be controlled." A loud clang and a shudder of the glass behind him cause him to pause. Panic weary on his face. "You must hurry. There is no time. The next room, there is a neutron purge that will destroy the nests and the remaining drones. I am dead already. Take this." He fumbles in his pocket with his left hand, holding out an OSD, Shepard takes it from him. "It's got the code, insert it into the-" His words choke off with a gurgle of blood as something slices through his stomach from behind. One of the bugs, the drones, flings him off of its pincer like a piece of trash then charges out of the vent it was in and straight at Shepard. She unloads on him. Her pistol glowing red hot with the speed of her shots. Green black sludge pours from the wounds, missing as it hits the deck burning there. Two more shots and it's down. Its face imploded from her shots. She barely has time to reload and reorient herself when more drones come out of the vent.

"Liara, Deunan, Ash! Hold that vent!" She bolts for the other room off this one. Seeing a console in the middle of the room she skids to a stop. jamming the OSD into the slot.

"Hello." A pleasant VI voice inters. "Thank you for activating my systems. I read that the Neutron Purge has been authorized. Would you care to activate it?"

"Yes!" Shepard barks, impatient with cheery VIs. "Just activate it!"

"Of course. Neutron purge activated. Minimum safe distance is fifty yards. Please evacuate the area, the purge will detonate in, one hundred and twenty, seconds. Thank you, and goodbye." The console goes dark.

"Oh shit." Shepard swears, turning back to the firefight in the anteroom. It is crawling with rachni. Her squad pinned against the door beside the elevator. "Oh shit, oh shit."

Liara looks up past three rachni she's caught in a singularity, seeing Shepard on the far side of the room. She is trying to yell something to them, but over the gunfire from Deunan and Ashley, she can't hear what it is. She turns just slightly and nudges Ashley's elbow with her own. She points out Shepard to Ashley. She nods, then crouches down, shipping her assault rifle then pulls out her sniper. Three shots clear out a line of rachni straight to where Shepard is standing.

Crouching low Shepard rushes down the narrow path before the masses of rachni close in again. As it is, the last ten feet she can feel Ashley's sniper rounds whiz over her shoulders, past her ears, to collide with the rachni closing in. She slides to a stop fetching up against the door. "We've got about forty seconds before that purge goes off. You guys have got to hold them back."

"What are you gonna do?" Deunan growls, "Sit on your pretty little ass all winded?"

Shepard glares at her fiercely. "No, I'm gonna get this door open. With any luck, it'll have blast shielding on it, or there'll be shielded room just outside." Not waiting for an answer she turns back to the door. Bringing herself up to a crouch looking at the holo interface of the lock. She sets to work on it, teeth gritted, and brings her left arm and omni tool up to level with the interface. She begins shifting the various 'pins' and circuits of the lock back and forth, pulling some out, shifting others around.

"Come on Kelly!" Deunan yells, "You're VI buddy is saying twenty seconds."

"I'm working, I'm working!"

"Work faster!"

Suddenly Shepard hears Ashley cry out, red blood sprays across the floor and her left leg, then she is blasted by black sludge tinged green. The indicator for her shields flares bright, then gives a warning beep as they begin to deplete. "Just great." She mutters, not daring to look to see how bad Ashley is hurt. "Acidic blood. because, of course, _normal_ blood would be too simple."

"Shepard!" Liara squeaks, fear in her voice. Shepard can vaguely hear the VI announce ten seconds left.

"C'mon, c'mon." Ashley growls.

"Shepard! Shepard, Shepard." Liara pleads.

"Ha!" Shepard crows triumphantly as the doors swish open. Reaching back she grabs Liara, who is closest, by the waist and dives into the hall beyond. They both crash to the crowd, followed by Ashley and Deunan. She sees Deunan kick the door panel and the doors snap shut just as the VI announces three seconds left. The ground shudders, the door creaks and barely bows with the force of the blast. Shepard twist over, shielding Liara instinctively.

When the ground stops quivering she glances at her HUD, no radiation warnings. She rolls off Liara onto her back, and collapses relieved.

"That was entirely too close." Ashley gasps. "Fuck Shepard, what the hell? Going for dramatics back there?"

Shepard pushes herself to a knee. "Gotta get those style points." She then looks over at Ashley. She has a wide, deep slash across her left side, "What the hell Chief?" she growls, quickly jumping up to her side, pulling out her medkit. "How bad?"

Ashley turns her side towards Shepard, "Not too bad, grazed mostly." Shepard lathers Omni gel over it. The bleeding stops and Ashley's color improves.

"Alright Deunan." Ashley turns to the shorter woman standing by the door, "Your turn. You're the only one of us not injured."

Deunan chuckles and boosts Ashley to her feet, "Probly cause I'm the only one who knows how to duck." She slaps Ashley on the shoulder and watches Shepard turn to help Liara up. The asari stumbles and then tumbles into Shepard's arms. Deunan smiles at the awkward blush that mantles Liara's cheeks and the nervous smile Shepard gives her, helping to steady her. They remain this way for a moment. Shepard's hands holding Liara by the waist, Liara's on Shepard's shoulders and upper arms.

Shepard swallows a nervous lump in her throat as she looks into Liara's wide sapphire eyes. Her stomach does fluttering flip flops. She smiles slightly when Liara continues to hold onto her shoulders. Unaware that Liara is feeling much the same emotions. She hastily steps back out of the hold.

"Well, um. Well then." Shepard awkwardly dusts her gloves off on her thighs. She looks down the hall they are staying in. It leads back in the direction of the research labs upstairs. "Let's head back this way. See if there's a way back up again." She sets off down the hallway. Ashley quickly follows Shepard, casting a dark look back at Liara, having seen the awkward exchange between the two.

Liara remains standing a moment in the hall. Deunan starts to follow, then turns back to the motionless asari "Hey." She touches Liara's arm, "You ok?"

Liara blinks, startled, "Hmm? Oh yes. Yes, I'm fine."

"You look like a girl hit by cupid's arrow."

"Cupid?" Liara is confused, "Arrow?"

"Never mind." Deunan tugs her elbow. "C'mon. I'll explain later. Judging by the stars in your eyes, it isn't hard to guess why."

Liara just shrugs her shoulders and trots to catch up to the Commander and Ashley. Deunan smiles grimly as she follows behind. If Liara is falling for the Commander, she hope that she doesn't hurt herself in the process.

"I'm doomed for no plan to go smoothly." Shepard complains, a growl deep in her throat. She turns and surveys the bodies of both civilians and merc guards. They had found a back door passageway into the research labs above. Only, once they got there, the captain who was so willing to help before had turned on them. Claiming orders from Benezia to kill them. Unfortunately her orders also applied to the civilians as well. It disgusts her to see helpless people slaughtered.

She is looking down at the blankly staring eyes of a young human girl, she couldn't have been more than nineteen, when Liara gently touches her shoulder. "Shepard?"

She looks up into Liara's concerned gaze. "You never get used to dead civilians." She says simply before stepping past them and up to the secured and locked door at the opposite end of the room. Opening the door she steps past into a short hall, her squad behind her.

Stopping at the door, she turns and looks to her squad. The pit of her stomach is in a tight knot. She knows this is the last stop. Benezia is through that door. "Liara, are you alright? Will you be ok in there?"

"I, I can do it." Her voice is very soft. She clears her throat and says, louder, "Yes, I'm here, I can do this. I have to."

Shepard nods satisfactory, then looks to Deunan and Ashley. Both have determined sets to their gaze and eyes. She lets out a deep sigh. "Here we go then." She palms the lock on the door and they step in as the doors swish shut behind them. She's not really surprised when the lock seals shut. Sparks igniting between the seam. No escape.


	27. Chapter 27

Author's Note: Sorry for the lack of updates. I had very little sleep the day before.

Here's a new chapter for you. I'm only two chapters ahead of you guys now, so uploads may get more sporadic soon.

This puppy is Noveria Peak15, and almost exclusively left of canon. So, bear that in mind. I hate Noveria with a passion. So this is my revenge.

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Chapter twenty seven

Facing front Shepard looks out over a large square chamber. A opaque glass tank inhabits the center of the chamber, easily two or three meters high, and triple that long. Cat walks encircle the tank around the sides. To her left a set of stairs go up to a platform that is level with the top edge of the tank. Standing at the head of the stairs is the asari Matriarch. There is no doubt this is Liara's mother. Though her face is lined with stress and more lines, they share the same basic physique. Smooth graceful curves, bright eyes. There is a certain stiffness to her posture. It reminds Shepard of a noble look. Shepard blinks twice, getting her mind to focus.

She hears Liara behind her. "Mother. What are you doing this for?"

Benezia ignores Liara, instead speaking to Shepard, "It does not make any difference who you bring with you. I will not be swayed."

Shepard glances back at Liara, registering the hurt there. "That's not why she is here. She chose to come."

"Mother!" Liara cries out. "Why are you following Saren? He is wrong, evil, twisted."

"You are an ignorant child. Saren and Sovereign are the future of all the galaxy's races. Open your eyes and see, open your mind to me, I will show you what he promises."

Shepard instinctively puts her arm out, blocking Liara's step forward. "Don't. It's a trap. Saren wants you for your skills, remember that."

Benezia laughs, a cruel, hollow, empty laugh. "Look at the little dragon roar. Come Shepard, you have seen what Saren has. Without submission our destruction is inevitable."

"So we should give up our liberties for safety? Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

"Reciting poetry now are we?" The matriarch gives that empty laugh, it sends shivers down Shepard's spine. "I told you. I will not be swayed. You are wasting your time and breath." She turns away, indifferent to them.

Shepard takes two steps up the stairs towards Benezia, her pistol out and held two handed by her side. "Don't you turn away from me." She growls, stopping on the far side of the steps from Benezia. "we aren't finished. You have information we need, and your daughter deserves better from her mother."

"Do not presume to tell me what I do or do not owe my daughter. She has chosen her path, beside you and against me. I do not need to hear more."

"Mother!" Liara cries out, pain raising her voice, she chokes back a sob. "Mother! I love you. Does that mean nothing?"

"You are no daughter of mine if you continue to deny me."

"You are disgusting. I can see why you like Saren so much. Peas in a pod you are."

"Enough. Little Dragon, sharpen your claws on something else, I grow tired of this." She lifts her arm, hand wreathed in violet blue energy, pointing at Shepard, it flies across the gap, freezing her in place. As Benezia turns away Asari Commandos enter the room from the doors to their left and right.

The field that holds her is more than just immobilizing her body. It freezes her mind. Coherent conscious thoughts elude her. Instead the pain from the beacon visions returns, pulsing and throbbing deep in her head. only a few breaths later the stasis dissipates and she drops to one knee, trying to see through the haze of pain.

Deunan kneels down in front of her. "You with us Kels?" She asks, worry etched in her brow.

Shepard nods, pushing herself to her feet. Four asari lay dead on the walks to her right, that catwalk is clear. She turns left and sees two asari suspended in the air fifteen feet up from the catwalks. Two more are just over the top of the platform on the opposite stairs. Their biotic attacks sail harmlessly over Shepard's head.

She sees Ashley laying prone on the lower catwalk. "You do know they are at the top steps, right?"

Ashley doesn't bother to turn to look at Shepard, she just grins and fires off two shots. Each takes an asari in the knee or ankle. The two asari from above come crashing down as Liara shifts her attention to lift the two gunned down by Ashley.

Shepard delivers two precise taps from her pistol butt to knock the women out cold. "What?" She answers Ashley's un-asked question. The chief just shrugs her shoulders and turns back to scout the area. One asari risks leaning over the barrier to see what her target is. Not two seconds later, her head explodes. Like a watermelon used for target practice. The second Shepard takes out on her own. Silently as she can, she moves under the catwalk on the smooth deck plating. Coming up from behind the Asari she uses her boot knife to slit the woman's throat. Quick, effortless and painless.

"You fight well Little Dragon, but how strong are you really?" Shepard snaps to her right, bringing her pistol to bear on the matriarch. Instead her pistol only raises halfway as she catches the Matriarch's gaze, her eyes are black as pitch. Then her world wrenches apart.

She feels like she can see her life in reverse, The Matriarch is clawing her way through her mind. Grasping each memory with cold steel claws tearing at them. Shepard scrambles madly, trying to stem the flow.

_The fight in the garage, a flood of geth and krogan._ Flash. _Liara, in the snow, grenade belt explodes._ Flash. _Seeing Deunan again. Her old flame, back after ten years absence. _Flash. _Talking, teasing with Liara. Unsure of the emotions inside her. Joy, happiness, love. No, can't go there again. _Flash. _Gunfire, pain, fights, combat. A cycle constant, screams, metal hands reaching from the sky. Red eyes that rain fire and destruction. _Flash. _Sex with Ellen, dances, drinks. _Flash. _Seeing the Normandy the first time. A thing of sheer beauty, perfect in every way. _Flash. _Psych evals, another one of an endless repetition stretching back years._ Flash. _Deunan's chaotic driving on Elysium, fighting batarians. Fuming over her ruined leave. _Flash. _Akuze. The great beast, snakes out of the ground. Impossibly huge, the ground shakes them from their feet. The creacher dives into the ground. Marines' shrieks silenced in an instant, yet lingering, echoing in her ears. "Kelly!" Lin screams at her. "No!" She runs at her love as she clings to the edge of a chasm. The ground rumbles, then her love is gone. _Flash. _Murderer. Coward. Insane. Psychotic. Racist killer on a rampage. Rage is all she knows. Four eyes and crested heads, Batarians. Slavers, murderers, all of them. _Flash. _Mindoir, pain, loss, grief, shame_.

"NO!" Shepard screams, pushing back with all her strength, fury roaring out of her, giving her fire and strength. "NO!" She screams again. Her hands find Benezia's holding her tight. "Not there! Never again!" The images, memories assault her again. One word repeating. _Murderer._ "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" She screams. The fire in her burns fierce and hot. Her pistol, still clasped in her right hand, hangs limp by her side. She whips it up and fires. Crack, crack, crack.

Benezia lurches back, hands pressed against her stomach. Blood pulses out. "No." She whispers. She stumbles and drops to the ground, the railing behind holding her up. "No, his voice. It is lessened. Wait. Please." She looks up at Shepard, her eyes are softer, her voice no longer harsh and cruel.

"Mother!" Liara screams, tears streaming down her face as she drops to her knees beside her mother. She presses her own hands over the wound.

Benezia lifts one blood soaked hand and caresses her daughter's cheek. "Little Wing, my little wing. I'm so sorry. Sovereign, he speaks, coerces, controls."

Liara sobs, her mother's blood pumping between her fingers. "No, please. Don't talk."

"I must." Benezia looks back to Shepard. "Little Dragon. Fitting. You are strong. Maybe stronger than Sovereign. You must fight."

"I.." Shepard's mind is still reeling from the assault, her body feels numb, shivers run all over her. "What do we do? What happened to you?"

"Saren found a Reaper ship. Sovereign, he is the one who whispers. Chides, promises. He sinks claws into me. He indoctrinates all who come near. I am lost. Cannot fight any longer."

Liara's voice is hoarse, rasping, frightened, "No. We can help you. Get you better. Don't leave me."

Benezia holds her daughter's face, resting their foreheads together. "I am beyond help, Little Wing. I will never leave you." She coughs, weakly, wet, blood runs from the corner of her mouth. "Peace, my daughter. I love you, so proud.." Her voice trails off. Her breath sighing out. A peaceful look eases the stress and lines on her face.

Liara sobs, pulling her mother close. "Mother. Mother, no..don't leave. Don't leave me"

Shepard, still numb kneels beside Liara. She sets one hand on the young asari's shoulder, her other over the matriarch's forehead and eyes. "Find peace." She whispers. "Find peace in the Goddess."

Liara turns and punches Shepard hard in the stomach. Pushing her back and away, screaming. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare give her the rites! You murdered her!" Another punch, this one to her ribs. Shepard scrambles to her feet. Liara comes in harder. Shepard lets her have her punches, get her anger out. Until the asari hits her bad shoulder, hard. Her numb body lights up crimson, flaring from her shoulder all across her chest. She gasps in pain, stumbling back. Liara doesn't stop. Her next fist connects with Shepard's cracked rib.

Shepard bites back a scream of pain. Bringing her arms up to guard. "I had no choice!" She hollers hoarsely at Liara.

"You murderer! You had a choice!" Suddenly she yelps and screams, "Put me down! Let me go! I'll kill you Shepard!"

"That's enough of that!" Shepard is impressed to see Deunan is the one holding Liara by the waist off the ground. "You know she had no choice. Cool it kiddo!" Liara struggles weakly but then slumps in Deunan's hold. The small human lets her down.

Liara turns and gives Shepard a glare that vows hate and death. "Murderer." She hisses, then storms out of the room.

Shepard slumps forward, left hand to her side, pressing the broken rib. Her right arm crooked up close to her chest. "She's right. Gods, what have I done?"

Ashley Gets under her left arm, propping her up. "You did what had to be done."

Deunan puts her arm around Shepard's waist, holding her on the right side. "You had no other choice." Together they help their limp, weak, and ashen Commander back to the tram station.


	28. Chapter 28

Author's Note: Here we are. Sorry for the delay. I came down wiht a nasty case of sinus infection crummies. Back in the saddle now, and you guys have now caught up to me. So I'm gonna have to kick it into high gear to stay ahead. :)

Left of canon chapter. Enjoy.

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Chapter twenty eight

"Commander? Shepard?" A voice calls from her cabin door, which is locked. For a reason. "Shepard, are you there?" Tali isn't the first to come to her door. It seems that they have a rotation. Kaiden, Tali, Chakwas, Ashley, then on repeat. Wrex stays away, even Deunan knows enough to stay away. Liara though, Liara. She doesn't come. With good reason. How could Liara see her as anything but a monster now? She's murdered Liara's mother. They say she had no other choice, and she knows she didn't. But there is always a choice, the outcome may not be what you want. But there is _always_ a choice. Why did she have to shoot her? A punch, a kick, anything would have been better than firing those shots. Liara, Liara saw it all. She saw your fury. How could she not hate you? Loathe you and your very existence.

But, she doesn't know what happened. The logical part of her mind argues. Liara couldn't know what was happening. Shepard doesn't even know what happened. How could your own mind be violated so viciously? How could it be entered at all? Was this something from Saren, or Sovereign? Or is this something all asari can do?

Of course Liara is furious. All she saw was the two of us staring the other down. She couldn't know what was happening in your mind.

"Shepard." Chakwas is back. "Open this door at once. You haven't left for three days, haven't eaten. You're injured and untreated." Two loud knocks sound against the door. "Open it."

Opening her eyes, Shepard looks through the exhausted haze of pain. The Beacon images are back again. Her mind feels like someone has dug claws through it and left her tattered and alone. Her thoughts are focused on her inner turmoil.

Three days. Is that all? It seems eternity ago, and yet still like just yesterday, that Deunan and Ashley had helped her aboard ship. They wanted her to see Chakwas. She wanted to see Liara. Only, Kaidan told her Liara had locked herself in the med lab. So, into her cabin she went. She sent both Deunan and Ashley away. She had then laid down here. And here is where she's stayed.

"Shepard." Chakwas says, a warning tone in her voice.

"That door is closed for a reason." Shepard growls into the arm she has draped over her face. Even with the lights dimmed to near black, her vision sparks and pains from the barest light. A dull roar, like raging ocean waves, course through her ears.

"Hey! Kels!" Deunan has come. Part of her mind registers surprise. But she lets it slide away again. Trying again to tune out them at the door. "Come on. Open it. Now."

Shepard groans something intelligible, knowing they can't hear.

"There's a big Krogan here, just waiting for the ok to bash it in." Even with the worry in her voice. The mischievous notes denounce Deunan's grin and amusement. "Open it."

It's the eager tone in Deunan's voice that gets through to Shepard. The last thing she wants is Wrex bashing the door apart. She is vaguely impressed Tali could not hack her door open. Useful to know. The thought slides away into the gray haze that her mind has become. She raises her left arm off her face, lighting up her omni-tool. She enters the sequence that will unlock the door. When the light on the holo interface of the door shifts from red to green, she drops her arm over her face again. The omni-tool's orange glow addled her vision and made her head hurt more.

Two sets of footsteps enter her cabin. One set stays near the doors as they slide shut again. The other set comes towards her, to stop at the bedside. "Shepard?" It's Chakwas. "Commander? How are you?"

This question, of all the things she could say, she says this question. She remains still, arm over her eyes.

"Hey, doc." Deunan calls from by her desk, the sound of glass clinks together. Shepard knows she's found the two empty whiskey bottles. "How ya feeling there Kels?" Deunan's footsteps come near her.

Shepard just groans, soft and shallow. She knows to talk wouldn't do any good.

A hand shakes her shoulder. "I know you're conscious, so, c'mon. Up with you."

"Screw you." Shepard growls. Her voice harsh and grave.

Deunan grabs her left arm and hauls it away. Instantly the meager lighting in the cabin lances pain through her vision. She snaps her eyes shut, barely suppressing a hiss. "Fuck off Knute." She growls. Throwing her other arm over her eyes.

Deunan grabs this arm as well, and draws it away. "Not happening. You're messed up, doc's here to fix it. Suck it up and deal wuss." Shepard snaps her arms out of Deunan's hold and crosses them over her stomach.

She feels a warm hand gently rest on her left shoulder. "Shepard." Chakwas' voice is soft, gentle and caring. "Shepard, you need to tell me what happened."

"Like hell I do."

"Can you tell me any symptoms that you have? I can treat your physical wounds at the very least."

This time her eyes snap open in frustration and stay open, despite the pain. "Symptoms? You want to know symptoms? Alright here's some for you, my own mind was fucking rent apart. I can't see straight, my ears won't stop roaring, my thoughts are chaotic at best. And you want to know how I'm _feeling_?" Shepard forces herself to sit up, turning to her left she drapes her legs off the rack and props her head in her hands. "Pretty fucking grand. That's how I'm _feeling_."

Chakwas reaches out her hand and touches Shepard's shoulder. "Commander?"

Shepard jerks away from Chakwas. "Leave me alone. I'll be fine."

"Like hell Kels. You're a wreck." Deunan puts her hands on Shepard's shoulders. "What was the last thing you ate? Or drank? Not counting the whiskey."

Shepard looks up through the veil of her hair loose from its usual tie. "I've had water enough."

"And food?" Deunan wheedles.

"What about food? Gotta have an appetite for that." Shepard pushes herself shakily to her feet. "I'm going to talk to Liara."

"Bad idea, Kels." Deunan grips her arm as she steps past.

"I killed her mother. The least I can do is try and explain why."

"And that'll help her how?"

"You got any other suggestions?"

"Give her time, give her space."

"So she can come to hate me more? I owe her more than that." Shepard turns on her heel and strides from her cabin.

"Well, that went well." Deunan glares at the deck. "Should we go after her?"

"No, she's moving. That's better than catatonic. Let her be. It probably wouldn't hurt if you were in the medbay, just in case." Chakwas walks from the room.

Deunan rolls her eyes at the overhead. How does she keep getting into these situations? Then she trots after Shepard.

Shepard pauses outside the door. Scrubbing her palm over her face, then rubs the back of her neck. "Right. Here we go." She presses the chime on the door, to alert Liara there's someone there. She is surprised when Liara's clear voice give permission to enter.

Stepping inside nervously, she clasps her hands behind her back. She sets her gaze to the far wall of the room. Deliberately looking past Liara. Her back is ramrod straight.

"Shepard." Liara's voice is clipped, but very soft, and polite. "It is good to see you up again."

"Thank you. I am feeling better." Shepard looks to Liara, "How, um, how are you doing?"

Liara smiles slightly. "I'm alright. Thank you. Asari teach to celebrate the life we knew of a loved one, not to mourn their death."

"It must still be hard." Shepard relaxes her stance when it becomes apparent Liara won't throw her out. "She was your mother."

"Yes, she was." Liara looks bows her head, looking at her clasped hands.

Shepard sees her shoulders hitch and knows she is fighting not to cry. Stepping close she pulls Liara close.

Liara clutches tight to Shepard as she buries her head in the stronger woman's shoulder. The tears come unbidden to her eyes, they steal her breath, burn her eyes, and tear at her stomach. The sobs aren't long to follow.

Shepard silently holds Liara and strokes her back, doing her best to ease her pain. When Liara steps back and looks up, Shepard wipes a tear from the corner of Liara's eye. "You good?"

Liara nods her head. Shivers had run through her at Shepard's touch and she is disoriented by her conflicting emotions. "Yes, I am better. Thank you, I will be alright." Liara looks into Shepard's face and sees more than exhaustion has lined her face. Her color is paler than usual, almost ashen. Her eyes are over bright, and her brow is furrowed down over them. "How are you feeling?"

Shepard looks up, startled by Liara's concern. "Me? I'm, well, I'm alright. I guess." She scratches at the back of her neck.

"You do not look alright." Liara presses. "I do not remember you looking this way during the mission. Were you injured?"

Shepard debates momentarily about telling Liara what happened. She doesn't want to appear weak, but on the other hand, Liara may be the only person who can help her sort this out. "Honestly? I'm not feeling too hot. You're, um. Well, Benezia, when we faced off, she did something. It messed with my head. Seriously messed with it."

"What did she do?" Liara's concerned expression deepens, but curiosity and intrigue peak there as well. "Was it a meld?"

"A meld? I've never heard of that. It felt like she was inside me, my memories and mind. Like she was raking at me with claws." She shakes her head, holding her forehead in her hand. "It's hard to explain. My mind still feels, violated, fogged up, painful."

Liara steps close, placing her hand on Shepard's shoulder. "I'm sorry. An asari should never initiate such a meld without consent. It is, forbidden."

"I can see why." Shepard growls, ducking her head to avoid Liara's clear blue eyes. "It was like having my mind raped. Seeing my life flashing by in reverse, completely unable to control it."

"This must have been Saren's influence." Liara lifts Shepard's gaze back to hers. Trying to ignore and suppress the heat that seems to rise in her whenever she touches the commander. "You said you are still feeling the effects?"

"Yeah, they haven't really diminished. I still keep getting flashes, and the Prothean Beacon vision keeps coming to the surface the most."

"I think it might be best." Liara looks down, a slight blush mantling her cheeks. She looks back up, a serious look on her face. "I think it would be best, if I were to perform a meld. Help you sort out the chaos."

Shepard takes two hurried steps back. "Oh hell no!" She cries out. "No fucking way. Once was bad enough."

"It will not be that way. That was forced. Rape, as you said, is a good word for it. This won't be. You must consent and let me in. I promise no harm will come to you."

Shepard looks dubious at the asari, "You're sure?"

Liara meets her eyes, all uncertainty and shyness gone. "Completely. Now, are we to do this?"

Shepard can't help but grin at the change that's come over Liara, "Look at you all confident and bossy. I like it."

Liara momentarily blushes, then looks back at Shepard. "Come here then. We have to be close for this to be effective."

Shepard steps close, holding Liara's small, lithe hands in her own calloused ones. "Alright then. What do I need to do?"

""Look into my eyes, find your peace, your place of serenity." Shepard looks up into Liara's eyes that have turned as black as obsidian stones. She looks inside her self, seeking out her place of calm. A melody rises to her thoughts. _"Oft in dreams I wander, To that cot again, I feel her arms a-huggin' me, As when she held me then. And I hear her voice a -hummin'. To me as in days of yore, When she used to rock me fast asleep, Outside our cottage door."_ the gentle sway of words takes her to a field of meadows. This is her Meadow, her serenity place. A place her Da sang to her as a child.

"Let me guide you back. Start at the beginning." Liara's voice is strange and alien to this place, but Shepard slowly recalls the moment Benezia entered her mind. Her meadow and melody shatter and rip away as she relives the eternity in moments that Benezia inflicted. She is caught up in the momentum of the experience, unconsciously dragging Liara along until they reach the memories of Akuze. Shepard instinctively snaps her mind, and body, away from the meld. Stumbling back she lands mightily on her rump on the deck.

Liara fares slightly better, finding the cot to sit down on. "That, that was, intense." She raises a palm to her head. Her cheeks are flushed pale, her hands tremble slightly.

Shepard scrambles up, barely noticing her headache has lessened some. "Hey, you alright? What's wrong?"'

Liara waves Shepard back. "It's alright. I'll be fine in a moment." she lowers her hand, looking up. "Is that what happened with Benezia? Did you pull out of her meld too?"

"Yeah. So? Is that unusual?"

"More than unusual. I've never heard of it done before. Not by a species other than Asari. The recipient of the meld can never leave. It would cause extreme pain, hallucinations, insanity, and eventual death."

Shepard gives a nervous bark of laughter. "Well then. Huzzah for me being abnormal."

Liara rubs at her temple once more. "Right, of course. Do you mind if I rest for awhile? I'm feeling a little faint."

"Um, sure." Shepard steps back a step. "You gonna be ok?"

"Undoubtedly. I just need rest."

"Alright then." Shepard turns to go then stops and turns back, "Are we, ok? I mean, I understand completely if you want to hate me."

"What?" Liara sounds surprised. "No, I do not hate you."

"I killed your mother. It makes perfect sense for you to."

"You had no choice."

"So everyone keeps telling me." Shepard grumbles. "Look, you go on and get some rest. we can talk later."


	29. Chapter 29

Author's Note: Last filler chapter for a little while, I promise. The action picks up again tomorrow. Enjoy.

* * *

Chapter twenty nine

Standing at the punching bag Shepard ignores the sweat running down her face and the ache from her healing shoulder and ribs. Left, right, up, fist, kick, jab, jab. Small plumes of dust rise from each hit against the bag.

"If you hit that bag any harder, you might actually get hit in return." Deunan leans her right shoulder against the bulkhead, her arms crossed over her chest. "How 'bout dancing with something that actually puts up a fight?"

Shepard pauses in her assault on the back, steadying it with her wrapped hands. "What did you have in mind?" It's been a week since Noveria. The Normandy has been trying to track the signal of the missing marines. Something is bouncing it around randomly on different frequencies. It's enough to drive anyone nuts.

Deunan shrugs off her leather jacket and wraps her hands in the bandages, stepping back into the freestyle ring. "It's a better workout than hitting an inanimate object."

Shepard smirks but steps forward. "I feel bad for you not being warmed up."

"Being warmed up just means being less fresh." Deunan raises her hands to guard. "C'mon N7, let's see what you've got."

Shepard sets her face and stance firm, getting set to fight. Her attention narrows to the smaller woman in front of her. Deunan is shorter and thinner, that's true. But the wire sinews of her muscles belay strength and speed. Her tight abdominal muscles hug a narrow waist, more signs of speed. Her legs are long and agile, Shepard knows. Speed is going to be the deciding factor here, not overall strength.

Deunan is also sizing up her opponent. Shepard has put on more muscle weight and mass, but she was watching her hit the punching bag. She may be strong, but she's still just as quick. Her height and longer legs and arms mean she has a longer reach. The best bet is to get in close and hit soft spots on the back and sides. Her injuries, while mostly healed now, must still pain her. Doubtless they will be stiff and she will be favoring her left leg.

The women face off, unmoving for long minutes, each waiting for the other to strike first. Deunan grins slightly when Shepard's abdomen shifts, telling of her incoming attack. She raise her right arm and deflects Shepard's blow, unsuspecting her right hand to slide in and knock the wind from her. Deunan releases, twisting around behind Shepard. Giving herself distance to recover.

Shepard waits in the middle of the arena, knowing Deunan will attack anytime. When Deunan dances in from her right she drops down to one knee, her left leg extended back, palms out to her side on the deck. The leg sweep intended to trip Deunan passes under her feet uselessly as Deunan flips onto her hands and vaults over, landing a few feet away, she presses herself back up and charges at Shepard.

A quick flurry of punches, blocks, and return punches and blocks ensues for a few moments. Neither woman gaining an edge over the other. They continue to trade blows, grabs, throws, kicks, and grapples for a long time. Unaware, and uncaring, that they are drawing a crowd. Crew members begin laying down bets on which woman will go down first. Both are showing signs of the exertion. Shepard's face is drawn in pain, sweat pouring down her face, darkening her amber hair to nearly black.

Deunan's tattoos are glossy with the sweat glistening her skin, her hair pushed back by a black hair band, her eyes shining with determination. "C'mon squid, is this all you've got?"

"You wish Spacer." Kelly takes a minutes opening to slip in and jab Deunan's kidneys a double tap that raises a hiss from the other woman. To Deunan's credit, she doesn't step back. Instead she grits her teeth and grabs Shepard under the arms, using her small body to boost Shepard over her back and tumbling to the floor. Shepard twists to her feet, a grin spreads across her face and she darts in. Weaving back and forth under Deunan's punches and kicks.

As she closes in Deunan lands two good hits, one that splits Shepard lip the other glances off her cheekbone, leaving the skin reddened. Unfortunately Shepard is too close. One shot hits her hard in the belly, driving the air from her. The next connects with her cheek, spinning her about. Shepard finishes it off with a roundhouse that sends Deunan sprawling across the deck.

Shepard wipes the blood from the corner of her mouth. And steps up to help Deunan to her feet.

Deunan claps her on the shoulder, "Gods woman, you're tough."

Shepard gives their clasped hands a tug and grins, "You're not too shabby yourself."

Ashley steps up with canteens for each of them. Shepard takes a long gulp from it. Then dumps the rest over her head. She pulls her hair from its tie, then finger combs it back again.

Deunan's smile fades a moment and she jerks her chin, pointing Shepard to turn around.

Turning, Shepard sees Liara standing by the edge of the arena, one hand clasped over her mouth in surprise.

"Liara. Are you ok?" Shepard steps closer, wiping the sweat from her brow.

"You're bleeding." Liara starts to reach out to the Commander, but stops herself, letting her arm fall.

Shepard wipes at the corner of her mouth. "So I am. You looked frightened."

"I thought you and Deunan were angered with each other. It looked terrible."

Shepard looks back over her shoulder at Deunan who is grinning wide and talking animatedly with Ashley and Kaiden. "What? That? No, we were just keeping up our skills. Her and I haven't dueled in so long, we were curious who was better."

"By fighting?"

"Sure." Shepard stretches her shoulders back and rolls them, cracking her neck side to side. "I've been so frustrated by this wild goose chase, I needed to blow off a little steam." Shepard loops an arm around Liara and steers her toward the lift, "C'mon, I need to wash up and grab a meal. Is this the first time you've seen humans fight for sport?"

Liara tries hard to hide the shivers that run her body at the Commander's touch. She steps out from under her hold, "I had heard of such things, but did not realize that was true."

Shepard laughs, "It's true enough. One of those, what did you call it? Brutish displays? Yeah, marines always tussle, vying for top dog."

"But you're injured!" Liara cries out, "How is that helpful to the mission?"

Shepard points at her lip, which has stopped bleeding. "This again? It's nothing. Won't even notice it in a day or two."

As they step out of the lift onto the crew deck Joker comes across the com. "Commander, I think we've finally nailed down where the signal is coming from."

"How far is it?" Liara sees all trace of levity leave Shepard's face, she's all business now.

"About two hours out."

"Alright, lay in a course."

"Aye, Commander."

"Well, about time. Liara, will you excuse me? I need to wash up and arm up before we arrive."

"Of course Commander." Liara smiles slightly as Shepard turns and walks away.


	30. Chapter 30

Author's Note: Got a short chapter for you guys. You've caught up to me, so the uploads will be more sporadic now. I will try and write a chapter a day, but it may end up being an upload every other day.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter thirty

"You're kidding me, right?" Shepard growls, looking out the turret scopes at the Thresher maw attacking them from the middle of the plain. They found the source of the signal. A trap, a lure. In the middle of a Thresher maw nest. Another acid blast rockets their way. "Kaidan! Hard to starboard!" She feels the mako shift, turning away from the incoming acid, but it's too slow, too slow. The world seems to blur into slow motion. She sees the blast coming in, can see that they won't get out of the way in time.

"Hold on! Brace yourselves!" The blast hits the ground right beside the mako, sending them tumbling and flying across the hard packed earth. Each hit jars deep into Shepard. The harness holding her into the turret wasn't designed for tumbling end over end. The straps dig tight into her shoulders then loosen only to whiplash her again. She hears Liara cry out once, then the mako comes to a violent halt, slamming up against something. The engine roars and dies, the lights inside flicker once before giving out showering the overturned cabin with sparks. The mako groans, a sound of over stressed metal, before shifting once more, turning entirely upside. The motion, so sudden, jars Shepard's harness and it bounces her head off the railing on the hatch around the turret.

Carefully shifting her position she groans and tries to look around. A console on the bulkhead nearby is hissing and sending out sporadic sparks. Through the vague light cast she looks for her squad. Garrus is shifting slightly, groaning. She can't see Kaidan in the cockpit, but she can see the windshield is shattered, she prays he didn't fly out. Liara is limp in her harness, unconscious. She can see a thin trail of violet blood slipping down the side of her face.

"Garrus." she hisses, "Garrus, hey. You there?"

"Commander?" He looks up, blinking his eyes open. "Is that you? Where are you?"

"Up here. My harness is jammed." She shifts to give him an idea.

Carefully he unfastens his harness, sliding out and upright. "Are you ok?" He reaches up carefully and feels her harness, tracing it back to the buckle that is wedged tight at her chest by her weight. "Can you shift your weight any? It's jamming the release."

She tries to grab the back of the seat and pull herself up into it, but her hands slip and can't grab it. "That's not gonna work. I need to push against something." A soft groan interrupts her, looking towards the sound she sees Liara start to shift. "Garrus. Go see to her. I'm not going anywhere." She doesn't tell him that breathing is getting difficult, her weight pressed this way is putting too much pressure on her lungs.

Garrus bends next to Liara, looking up at her. The mako isn't perfectly upside down, so Liara's seat is closer to a forty five degree angle, putting less pressure on her chest. "Hey, Liara. You there?"

She groans again, blinking her eyes open. "Garrus? What happened." She shifts a little more, touching the blood on her face. Her eyes widen. "Shepard?" She gasps out, pushing against her restraints in her haste.

"Hey, hey. Take it easy." Shepard waves gently from her position. "I'm alright. You're the one injured."

Liara sighs in relief and touches her head again. "I'm alright." she releases her harness, sliding less gracefully out than Garrus had. She looks up at Shepard, "How do we get you down?"

"I'm still thinking on that one." She tries to not let a wheeze into her voice, "Someone check on Kaidan." Garrus ducks into the cockpit to look for Kaidan.

Liara steps up and places her hands on Shepard's shoulders. "How is your breathing? Is it bad yet?"

"Ever the doctor." Shepard laughs weakly, "I'll tell ya this much. I now know I ain't as light as a I thought."

Liara can't help a smile, even though the sighs at Shepard's audacity. She steps carefully onto a piece of the bulkhead and structure supports and tries to use her body to press Shepard back into the seat. "How's that?"

Shepard carefully takes a shaky deep breath. "Better. Can you reach the release? I can't get my hands in between us."

Liara shifts her hold, pressing her shoulder into Shepard's abdomen. She carefully reaches up and finds the release buckle. "Are you ready?"

"Ready as ever." Shepard tries to brace herself against Liara as she releases the buckle. Despite her efforts, as soon as the straps loosen she crashes into Liara and they tumble to the floor.

They are hopelessly tangled when Garrus comes back in, supporting a limping, but awake, Kaidan. "Don't we have a Thresher Maw to deal with?"

Shepard can see his amusement on his face. "A little help could be useful." She tries to push herself up and only tumbles again as Liara shifts her weight. She ends up pressed against Liara, their bodies close together. Both women are hyper aware of every point where their bodies meet. Even through their armored suits. Liara tries to suppress the excited chills that run her body. Shepard has to swallow the lump that rises in her throat and quell the emotions, the desires that well up in her at the asari's touch. She can't allow that again. Quickly she grabs a piece of the damaged bulkhead and pulls herself upright. She extends a hand to pull Liara up.

"Garrus, see if you can't get that door open. The hatch looks ruined." She helps take Kaidan's weight. "How you holding up marine?"

"Got a bit knocked around, head's a little scrambled." Kaidan steps away, taking his own weight. "Good to go ma'am." Shepard claps him lightly on the shoulder as Garrus gives two good shoves to the door, it pops open and the group slowly exits the battered vehicle.

Shepard looks towards the middle of the plain, the blast has knocked them to the base of the cliffs at the far edge of the plain. "Why hasn't it finished us off?"

"Perhaps it does not perceive us as a threat anymore. It is likely there is a fertile nest in there."

The ground begins to shudder, causing Kaidan to lose his balance. He stumbles back into the mako just as the ground beside them erupts in a shower of rocks dirt and acidic bile. The mako jolts and tumbles farther away. Garrus stumbles but keeps his balance. Liara is standing by Shepard, as the Maw dives back into the ground, the body collapses creating a deep chasm. The ground beneath Liara crumbles away, and she slips down, scrambling madly for any kind of purchase to hold on to. She disappears over the edge of the chasm.

Shepard shrieks and bolts forward, sliding on her belly she barely grasps Liara's hand, holding her by sheer force of will.

Liara's eyes are wide in panic, her breathing shallow and fast. "Shepard!" She cries out. Her grip slipping. The gloves on the suits unable to hold friction.

Shepard frantically pulls at her left glove with her teeth, desperately trying to pull it off. It refuses to budge and Liara slides a little more out of her grasp.

As she slips another few centimeters, panic seizes Shepard, freezing her in place. A flash of the Beacon image flits across her vision, and then she is back on Akuze, unable to save Lin, or any of her marines. It takes only a heartbeat, then she is back and feels the last of Liara's hand slip out of hers. "NO!" she shrieks, frantically reaching out into empty air. "Liara!"


	31. Chapter 31

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. Hopefully it wasn't too torturous. Here is our continuation and for your enjoyment. You may now be relieved from hating me.

* * *

Chapter thirty one

A blue haze, the color and fire of biotics illuminates the chasm. It rises slowly, haltingly until Shepard can see the form inside. It's Liara, she appears unmoving. Shepard reaches out towards her, unable to reach. The sphere drifts closer, across the chasm and over solid ground. It settles slowly to the ground, gently laying Liara on the ground before vanishing. A gasp catches Shepard's attention. She looks up and sees Kaidan leaning weakly against the hatchway in the mako. His color is ashen, and beaded with sweat. She jerks her chin in thanks, and he nods before sitting down on the ground.

Shepard rips off her helmet casting it aside as she drops down on her knees beside the unmoving asari. She doesn't see any injuries, besides her previous head wound. Leaning close she hears Liara's steady breathing and sighs in relief. She had only fainted. She's ok. Gently she touches Liara's shoulder and gives her a little shake. "Liara?" She stirs a little, a small sigh escaping her lips.

Liara blinks her eyes open, looking into Shepard's amber ones. Without thinking she jumps up and hugs Shepard tight around the shoulders, burying her face in her shoulder. "Shepard." She gasps out, fighting back tears of relief.

Shepard holds her tight, fighting to control the emotions roiling inside her. There's no denying it anymore. She knows now what she refused to believe before. Somehow this woman in her arms has become the most precious thing in the world. She thought she had closed her heart off from ever loving again. But it isn't true. She loves Liara, inexplicably, and she has no idea what to do about it.

Unfortunately she doesn't have the time to figure it out. There is still one very pissed off thresher maw hunting them, and now they have no vehicle to help destroy it. This mission just got a lot more complicated. She stands up, pulling Liara with her. Then she lets go and turns back to Garrus. "Any idea how to take down a maw on foot?"

"Do those beasts have any soft spots?" Garrus peers into the middle of the field where the maw came up last.

"That I have no clue on." Shepard rubs the back of her neck, trying to figure out this seemingly impossible situation.

"There has to be somewhere." Liara comments.

Shepard smacks her forehead. "Wait! I got it! It's the crest. At the top of the head and right behind the jaw. I'm sure of it."

Garrus looks at her doubtfully. "How can you be sure?"

"There are these creatures, mythical ones, back on Earth. They're called dragons. These maws look similar to the Chinese variant. Liung, it's a serpent dragon. Their weak point is the soft tissue behind the jaw, and the crest, just at the back of the skull, where it meets the spine."

"We are basing our plan on a fictional creature from ancient human history?" Liara shows skepticism.

"There is a strong belief and scientific articles to support that such widespread beliefs, reports, and legends stem from an actual creature."

"Still, that's all very good." Liara says, shaky confidence in her voice. "But how do we get to its head?"

Shepard rubs her chin. "Haven't gotten that far yet." The rumble in the ground, signifying the return of the maw interrupts her train of thought. She grabs Liara and dives closer to the cliff side by them. Garrus lands beside them, half diving, and half thrown by the emerging maw.

Shepard watches it rear up, then dive away again, digging another trench in the valley. "There has to be some way to get its attention and not get fried in the process."

"That is definitely a priority." Garrus looks out across the plain.

Shepard chins her mic, looking across the gap to Kaidan and the mako. "Kaidan. You still with us?'

Kaidan sits a little straighter from the ground by the mako. "Aye ma'am. Lost a fair amount of blood from a cut to my leg. A little weary. Don't fret, it's handled now."

"Good to know." she replies. Her mind quickly following a path to a plan of attack. "Are the flare gun and flares still there, and undamaged?"

"Wait one." He turns around looking into the mako. "Aye ma'am. They are here." He turns back facing her, the gun and flares in his hands.

"Any chance of sending them our way?"

She can see Kaidan shake his head. "Afraid not. Saving Liara took the last of my strength."

"Commander?" Liara speaks up. "I am at full strength. I could bring those materials to us."

"That's good, do it. We're going to need them, for my plan to work."

"What is this plan of yours?" Garrus looks at her, skeptically.

"Well, you aren't gonna like it."

Garrus gives her a stern look, "You aren't using the flare for an attractant for the maw."

"Not quite." Shepard turns to Liara. "Do you think you can hold one in a stasis?"

Liara looks startled and doubtful, "Maybe for a very short time."

"A short time is all I need. Now, here's the plan." As she outlines her plan, her friends faces go from anticipation, to startlement, then to anger, and finally frustrated acceptance.

Shepard tries to force her mind into thinking that this is no different than climbing rock walls like she's done for years. Only rock walls don't buck and roll under her. She is clinging to two hard horn antennae. One of her feet precariously planted on one of the rounded small crests that form a straight line from the maw's crest to its snout. Liara's stasis had worn off too soon, and Shepard had only gotten two thirds of the way up before it started bucking and roaring. It couldn't find her, but it knew she was there. A brilliant flash of white light, and orange and red sparks explode beside her. The flare scatters hissing sparks over the maw's head crest. The bright flash disorients it. Preventing the nasty from diving into the ground again. Garrus is providing the flares as a distraction to the maw on its right side, Liara using biotics on the left. And Shepard clinging for all of life to its center crests.

"Not much further." She grunts as another buck of the maw presses her flat against it. She can only hope it isn't trying to flick her off its head. She doesn't fancy flying lessons courtesy of a maw. She inches herself up another foot or two, using the very back crest for leverage. She reaches the soft tissue area and pulls herself to a sit as another flare explodes right next to her. She praises her helmet for its protection from outside elements.

"Gotcha." She whispers. Drawing out her pistol she fires it three times into the soft tissue at the back of the skull. It barely gets through, enraging the beast more. The maw twists its head, rocking it up and down repeatedly. She barely keeps her hold, taking as little time as she can to line up the kill. She ships her pistol, drawing out her boot knife. A full sixteen inches of blade, it is hardly considered anything like a knife. She reverses her grip and dives forward, putting all her weight and strength into driving her knife deep into its skull. It pierces out the top of its mouth.

The beast gives one last flick of its head. Shepard, unbalanced and not holding onto the crests, flies smoothly into the air. She watches the ground drop away, twenty, thirty, forty feet.

"Bad juju." She swears as her ascent slows and she starts arching back down. "Bad, bad, bad!" This time it's her falling to her death not Liara, and she wonders what will happen next. She closes her eyes as the ground swells up perilously close.

She sighs out one word, "Liara."


	32. Chapter 32

**Author's Note**: Sorry for the delay. I bet you guys hate me so much. Or have all left. *looks around* Well, for those who have decided to stick around, thanks. I have been preparing for the Penny Arcade Expo(Pax 12) throughout August, and attending the convention this past week. So, now that all that fun is, sadly, behind me. I am back.

I don't know if I'll be able to get back to a chapter a day, but I will do my best to not leave you hanging more than a week.

Now, on to the story!

* * *

Chapter thirty two

Liara watches as Shepard soars high into the air. At first she is too shocked to think on how to help. But as Shepard begins to plummet Liara knows she has to do something, anything to save her. She runs as fast as she can towards Shepard, throwing out a biotic lift at the last fifteen feet or so to slow Shepard's impact on the ground. Even so there is a resounding thump as she hits and raises a cloud of smoke five feet high. All Liara can think about as she comes to a halt, kneeling beside the Commander, is "Please don't be dead. Please don't die." She chants it softly as she eases off Shepard's helmet. The woman blinks up at her, amber eyes turning golden in the sun.

Letting out a soft groan Shepard says, "It'll take a lot more'n that to kill me." Liara lets out a strangled gasp and laugh, pulling Shepard to her feet and embracing her.

"Goddess, you scared me half to death."

Shepard gives her that wicked crooked grin, "Only halfway? I'll have to try harder next time." She shakes her head vigorously and rolls her shoulders back, cracking her spine.

"You nearly fell to your death and you're making jokes?" Liara is more and more confused by this woman. She has never met anyone like her.

Shepard pats her on the back as she turns and walks back toward Garrus and Kaiden. "All's well that ends well. C'mon, let's call a ride and get the hell off of this rock." Liara shakes her head in confusion and follows Shepard back away from the maw. "Joker, Shepard here. We need a pick up. And probly some heavy lifting to get the mako."

Joker comes over the comm, "Aye ma'am. You getting into trouble down there?"

"As always. What's your ETA?"

"Give me ten. Joker out."

Shepard looks back over the field at the spindly tower in the middle of it. "We gotta do something about that." she growls. Without waiting for an answer she quickly strides back across the field, determination set on her face.

Liara starts to follow but Garrus lays a hand on her elbow and shakes his head. "She's got this. come on, let's go get Kaiden."

Shepard steps up to the satellite, looking it over closely. It's an older model, barely in use anymore. She can spot the signal scrambler riding humpbacked between the source box and signal booster. Someone went to a lot of trouble to make this squawk and draw attention. She detaches the whole modifications. From the source box all the way to the booster antenna. All together it would fit in a small lock box. She wants to know who placed this trap here, and why.

Getting back to the LZ where the shuttle has landed, she sees Garrus helping Kaidan in. Liara is standing by the hatch looking towards her.

"Are you alright?" Liara steps away from the shuttle to meet Shepard and takes the gear from her. Stepping into the shuttle together.

"I'm fine. We need to find out who that belongs to and why they left it in the middle of a maw nest." She takes the gear back from Liara and looks it over. "It's human made, the beacon, and the mods. If I had the time, I might be able to track it down." She sighs and tucks the gear into on of her armour's many pouches. "I'm going to give it to Hackett, let tracking it down be his problem." She leans back against the bulkhead and swears as her head lights up in pain. She leans forward, rubbing at the back of her head. She feels a large bump there.

"Shepard?" Liara sounds worried as she steps up beside Shepard, "Are you alright?"

"Ow, I think that fall knocked me harder than I thought." She rubs gently at the bump. "Anybody got any ice?"

"I've got something better." Garrus hands Liara a small compress.

As she sets it against the back of Shepard's head, the Commander can't help a soft sighing moan of relief. The medigel in the compress is chilled and spreads a cool, numbing sensation throughout the bruise and her aching head.

Shepard raises her hand to cover Liara's sighing still in relief. "Gods that feels amazing. Thanks."

With her head down, Shepard doesn't see the blush that mantles Liara's face. Garrus and Kaidan do. Garrus just gives her a small, encouraging smile. Kaidan simply nods and looks away.

"Commander, Joker here."

Shepard groans, and then sits up a bit straighter, sighing inwardly as Liara takes her hand and the compress away. "Shepard here. What have you got Joker?"

"I have Dr. Chakwas here wanting to know what traumas she should be preparing for."

Shepard chuckles to herself, glad it is an audio only com link. Chakwas would not like the grin that has spread across Shepard's face, "Kaidan is the only casualty. He learned it is not a good idea to try and outrun a Maw. He has multiple lacerations to his leg, and weakness due to blood loss. The rest of us are five by."

"Copy that Commander." Joker responds, "Chakwas says she will meet you in the cargo bay. We're bringing you in now."

"Copy that, Shepard out." She cuts the com line, feeling the hum of the engines cut off and the rumble of the shuttle settles on the Normandy's deck. "Everybody out." Shepard orders as she stands. Garrus helps Kaidan to stand as he opens the door.

Chakwas is standing by with a hover stretcher and an assistant. Kaidan settles onto it with little fuss. As Chakwas turns and leads Kaidan to the medbay Liara helps Shepard out of the shuttle. Garrus gives Shepard a loose salute and heads off to his locker on the far side of the bay.

Shepard groans as she pulls off her arm plates on her way to the lift. Her whole body feels like it has been tossed around in a barrel full of rocks. Liara draws her other arm guards off and her back piece as they board the lift up to the crew deck. Silently they enter her quarters as Liara helps pull her chest piece off. Sitting down to remove the leg armor, Shepard can't help the groans that escape her.

"Are you certain you do not want to see Chakwas?" Liara asks concerned as she helps draw off the armored boot. She gently pushes Shepard up and back into the chair as she kneels down to take off her leg armor.

"I'm not that bad off." Shepard grunts as she sets her helmet aside. Every exposed area of her body that is now free from the armor is clamoring to remind her of the rough treatment she has received.

"That suit has to come off." Liara says matter of fact.

"What one embrace and you're already trying to get my clothes off?" Shepard quips as she stands and starts to unzip the suit from her collar down.

To her credit, Liara only blushes slightly before she says sternly to Shepard, "I know you are wearing pants and a tank top under that suit."

Shepard tries to muffle or suppress her groans of pain as the suit eases off of her. She hears Liara take a hissing intake of breath as the suit comes off her back and shoulders. "I'm right colorful, aren't I?"

"Oh." Liara sighs, "Colorful? Yes, that looks very painful."

Shepard kicks the last of the suit off, releasing her legs she turns and looks at Liara. "You wouldn't happen to have more of that medigel, do you?"

Liara has to fight her blushes, seeing Shepard in armor or her uniform, it is easier to forget she is a woman. Easier to ignore the desire she doesn't understand. Seeing her in a pair of thin pants and a tank top, seeing so _much_ of Shepard, has unnerved her. Her shyness and timidness has returned ten fold. "Oh, um. Yes." Liara turns away and starts to rush out of the cabin, when Shepard catches her wrist.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Shepard gently stops Liara and turns her back to look at her. "Look, about earlier. Well, um." Shepard pauses, rubbing the back of her neck, as she does when she is unsure or nervous, "Well, thanks. For saving me."

This takes Liara by surprise. She wants to say her own thanks, to take up the chance, to talk about the embrace. Ask if Shepard really does care for her, as more than just a crew member. But she can't, so she simply says, "You are welcome." Then turns away and hurries out of the cabin.

Shepard groans at her failure. and turns away from her desk and gear, she flops face first onto her rack. "Dumbass. Dumbass." She swears at herself. Of all the things she wanted to say, that's what pops out? 'Thanks'? That's it? She swears again, punching her pillow into submission.

The embrace, her realization. She wants to know if Liara feels the same way. Was her reaction just hero worship for surviving? Or was it something, more? And what is that more? Shepard rolls onto her back, a short hiss escapes her from the pain that radiates from her many bruises. Yes, what _is_ that 'more'? Those feelings. She knows what they are. She knows, and doesn't want to admit, or believe, she has them. Love. That's what it is. Love

She bolts upright, her legs falling over the side of her rack, she rakes her hands back through her hair. "Fuck.." she whispers. "No, I can _not_ be falling in love! Not again, never again." She stands up and begins pacing the cabin. Growling to herself and trying to clamp these emotions down. Fight them off. She can't be having them. Can't afford them again.

She grabs her tool kit from the locker and walks briskly down to engineering, begging Adams for some hard, dirty work to occupy her mind. It doesn't take long for her to get blissfully dirty and lost in the work.


	33. Chapter 33

**Author's Note:** Alright, gots a new chapter here for you guys. More left of canon. The next two or so will be the same. Don't worry, we will get back to your regularly scheduled program. Just need a slight detour. enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Thirty three

"Commander Shepard!" Ensign Jacobs hollers right next to the console Shepard is hiding under. The sudden noise startles the Commander and she bounces her head off the underside as she hurries out.

Rubbing her head she glares at Jacobs when she stands, "Is there a problem with the coms, Ensign?"

Jacobs swallows the lump that rises into her throat at the Commander's vehemence. "Um, No. Uh, Ma'am. We, Joker that is, tried to contact your omnitool with no response-"

"That's because I shut it off." Shepard growls in frustration. Having one's peace alarmingly interrupted does that to a person. "Was there a problem with the ship coms?"

"No, uh Ma'am. It seems that you didn't hear it." Jacobs blanches under the Commander's glare.

"In her defense ma'am," Adams comes around from behind the console he had been working with. "I did hear the last call for you, was on my way to alert you." He grins widely and signals the wires snaked about his feet, "These had other plans apparently."

His levity breaks Shepard's frustration and anger, thawing her to a chuckle. "Very well then Ensign. You've found me. What's the fuss?"

"Admiral Hackett is on the line, it's flagged 'Urgent'." The Ensign's nervousness is understandable now. Shepard is keeping the Admiral on hold. Shepard has to fight the amused grin that wants to spread across her face. Instead, Jacobs see the corner of Shepard's mouth twitch.

"And what is the good Admiral on the line for?" Shepard asks, wiping her hands on a towel as she starts toward the lift, leaving the ensign to hurry along behind her.

"He is wanting a status update I believe, Ma'am." Jacobs tries not to huff as she follows along in Shepard's path, the older woman having a much longer, and faster, stride than her own.

"Status update and he flags the call as 'Urgent'?" They exit the lift, Shepard begins to climb the stairs.

"He is an Admiral, Ma'am."

"And only an Admiral would flag a status update as 'Urgent'" She shakes her head as she makes the turn toward the Com room. "Dismissed Ensign. Thanks for retrieving me."

Jacobs snaps a salute, "Aye Ma'am." She then turns and walks away, back to her other duties.

Shepard shakes her head as she enters the com room. Activating the Com the holographic projection of Hackett comes up. She salutes, "Admiral. Good to see you."

He returns a half hearted salute as she relaxes to parade rest. "You as well, Shepard. I received your latest mission report. Thank you for taking care of the N7 mission. Be assured we will find the families of the fallen, and give back what we can."

"And the tech, sir?" Shepard's curiosity is killing her.

"We haven't had much chance to look over the scans. Lt. Moreuo says you will be making a supply stop soon?"

"Yes sir. We left Noveria in something of a hurry. And we have run low on supplies on our wild chase of the supposed distress signal. We have not chosen where we will be getting our supplies. Guidelines are, twisted, at best. As a Spectre they suggest I resupply at the Citadel. As an Alliance marine.." She trails off as Hackett picks up her line of talk.

"You are recommended to refuel at Arcturus." A sly smirk crosses his face. "Yes, I can see your problem."

"Yes sir.' Shepard has a puzzled scowl, contemplating this problem. "It's a rather diplomatic problem."

"We have recently set up an Alliance Requisitions outpost on the Citadel." Hackett muses, "It's not set up with ship supplement in mind, but we might be able to bolster it's supplies."

Shepard smiles, "That sounds like a perfect solution. Was there anything else you needed to speak with me about, sir?"

"Yes. Have you had a chance to look into the issues on Feros colony?"

"We were planning on heading that way after we resupplied, sir."

"Very well then, Hackett out." He salutes once, she responds and the line goes dead.

Shepard turns and exits the Com room, going up to CIC and the Galaxy map. "Joker, lay in a course for the Citadel. We've got our resupply location sorted."

"Aye Ma'am. Course laid in. ETA, twelve hours."

"Very well." Shepard turns and heads back down to the mess for a late breakfast, having worked all morning.

Deunan waves Shepard over to the table she is at, alone. "Capy." She says, using a term that the two of them have swapped many a time before, "Have we decided how to play nice with mommy and daddy and found a home?"

Shepard chuckles as she butters a piece of toast, "As much of one as two dysfunctional parents can compromise for. We have a shiny berth waiting us on the Citadel tomorrow."

"Sounds good. I think I should still have an apartment there." Deunan sounds unsure.

"You think?" Shepard gives her a quizzical look then eats her toast.

"Well, I had one two months ago when I left for Noveria. I think I left enough rent behind to cover it." Shepard just shakes her head over her friend's amusing scattered brain, as she finishes eating her breakfast.

"Anyways," Deunan says after a lengthy pause, "After the trouble you've gotten into, it's become clear to me I need to stick around to protect your scrawny hide."

Shepard snorts her amusement. "My scrawny hide? I think you're mistaken there missy. You're nearly have my size."

"And a brawny one at that. Face kid, you're the toothpick in this competition."

"and now it's a competition? You're insufferable."

"And I'll be stuck here for the foreseeable future." Deunan get's up and nudges Shepard with her tray, "Get used to it sweetheart."

Shepard laughs as she too stands. "And this leads back to you mentioning your apartment because...?" Shepard trails off, inviting Deunan to fill in the blank.

"Because." Deunan gives her a mock glare, "I feel I had best grab what I can of my belongings before we leave."

"We don't have much cabin space here. save for the XO cabin."

"Sounds like a good place for me then."

"You ar so not going to be my XO."

"Aw Shep!" Deunan gives a pout as they deposit their trays and turn away. "don't ya want me to be your right hand?"

"You'd be better off as the left. and You can have the cabin, just not the job."

Deunan extends her hand comically for a handshake, when Shepard complies, she shakes it firmly and vigorously. "A deal is struck!" she proclaims.

Shepard shakes her head once more, attempting to hide a grin. "How much stuff do you have anyways?"

"Not much, just a few odds and ends. I do have something I'm past due to return to you."

Shepard stops dead in her tracks. "You don't.." She barely whispers out.

Deunan nods solemnly, "I do. And you can have it back tomorrow."

Shepard gives an entirely different shake to her head, as she walks away from Deunan, aiming for the CIC, sure that someone up there needs her for something.

Deunan watches her go, wondering if bringing up the loaner was the smartest thing to do. She glances up the stairwell towards CIC where Shepard went, then shrugs and returns to the aft of the crew deck, into the armory.


	34. Chapter 34

Author's Note: Hey there! yes, I'm still alive. One more left of cannon chap, then we'll be on our way to Feros. Got a fun banter and plot/charie development chapter here.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Thirty four

Shepard manages to find enough menial command duties to keep her busy the rest of the day, busy, and away from Deunan. She's not sure what to think really. there was a reason she left that package with Deunan, knowing it would have to be returned. She just wasn't ready for it. As she lays down for the night, memories surrounding that object plague her night. Too much death and it is interlaced with images from the beacon.

Insuring when she wakes in the morning, that she is not in the least rested. And, as the unfortunate Ensign Jacobs finds out when she brings the morning's reports. It's left the commander in a worse temper than usual.

Shepard tries to not bark too much at Jacobs over the mundane reports, but she can't help sounding gruff and not in the least personable. Jacobs quickly hands over the datapads, gives her short summary of the reports and makes a hasty retreat from the glowering commander.

As Liara exits the medbay intent on a morning tea. She sees the exchange between commander and ensign. She feels sorry for the ensign, but also wonders what has upset Shepard this morning, as the Commander is normally not so, unpleasant.

She waits for Shepard to get her coffee and take a seat before getting her own drink. She steels herself to walk over and have a seat across from Shepard.

It takes Shepard a few moments before she realizes someone is watching her. Snapping out of her reverie of only half paying attention to reports she looks up sharply. Seeing Liara looking at her with a mildly concerned expression Shepard bites back the sharp comment that jumps to her lips. "It is customary to say hello to someone in the morning." She says curtly.

Liara is only slightly perturbed by this, but doesn't allow the commander's sharp tongue to stop her. "My apologies Shepard. I was concerned for your increased, irritation of this morning."

"I'm fine." Shepard replies curtly, looking back down at her the harshness in her words, she softens them and add, "I'm alright, thanks. Just preoccupied with things this morning." she looks up into Liara's sapphire eyes and has to glance away, "We are docking at the Citadel for today, possibly overnight. If there is anything you need..?" Shepard trails off in a question.

"I would care for some, garments." Liara says a little uncomfortable. "It would seem I am in need of some, though I do thank Dr. Chakwas for the loan of some of her own."

Shepard smiles wryly. "Of course, I'm sorry. I could have offered some of my own, I wasn't thinking."

"That is fine," Liara hurries to reassure the commander, unsure about the idea of wearing Shephard's clothes. "I'm well enough. You did make a mention, back on Noveria, about getting me some armor."

"Oh, yes." Shepard responds smacking her head in frustration. "I'm sorry been, a bit preoccupied. as soon as we're docked, I'd be happy to help you get what you need."

"I appreciate that, Shepard."

Shepard nods her head, then stands up to leave the mess. "Very well then. I'll meet you dockside, say in an hour?"

Liara smiles, "Yes, that would be fine."

Shepard nods once more before retiring to the cabin to change. Liara disperses as well.

An hour later sees the two women inside Aldrin labs, Shepard trying to help Liara find, and purchase her own armor. Shepard is a little shocked to find out how wealthy Liara is, having inherited her mother's estate.

"I feel as if I ought to be bowing to you, you're practically royalty." She teases Liara as the asari is being fitted with a full hard suit armor.

"I beg your pardon?" Liara responds.

Shepard can't help but grin, "I never guessed that you were so wealthy, somehow never crossed my mind."

Liara sees Shepard scratch the back of her neck in that nervous, unsure way. "It is nothing, really. I have no extravagant uses for it."

Shepard can't help a snort, but refrains from stating her thoughts only someone who's always had could say it is nothing. Instead she just smiles at Liara as the asari finishes paying for the armor and directs it to be sent to the Normandy's dock.

Looking to her watch Shepard sees it is fourteen hundred and turns to Liara, "Do, would you like to just walk, for a bit?"

That sounds very nice." Liara answers happy for the chance to talk with Shepard away from the duties of her ship and command, and away from the crew.

As they walk along the presidium Shepard asks Liara questions about her childhood and upbringing. Pulling out her stories of games played with her mother, stories that Liara made up about the stars and the protheans.

"Wait," Shepard says with a surprised smile, "How old were you when you were making stories of, the protheans?"

Liara laughs, "Did you never make up stories of your own as a child?"

"well, yeah sure. All kids do. But generally about cowboys, superheroes, knights in shining armor. Not ancient aliens."

"I have no idea what any of those things are, or why children would make stories of them."

"Well, cowboys, they were frontiersmen. They tamed the wilds of the west." Shepard struggles to find a way to explain something that is so purely, and distinctly human. "Think of them as the early explorers of your planet, they were the ones to tame the wild."

"Ah, I see. I can see the child's' fascination. What of the other two? Superheroes? Knights?"

Shepard has her amused, unsure smile in place, her hand reaching for the back of her neck. "Superheroes are easy, they are biotics, well mostly. Before biotics they were humans with superhuman abilities, talents, skills. They were the extreme fighting force for good." Shepard wonders how her asking about Liara led back to her talking about childhood heroes. "Knights? They are a bit harder to explain. hundreds, almost a thousand years ago the world was ruled by individual kingdoms all ruled by a King. He gave titles to strong swordsman called Knights. Well, in the fantasy of imagination, Knights always wore bright, shining, silver armor. The battled dragons and rescued damsel princesses in distress."

Liara doesn't really understand a lot of the individual ideas and concepts, but the heroism of the knights and their glamorous appearance she can understand.

"Do all human children believe in these heroes?" Liara asks, mostly just to have Shepard talk more. She becomes very animated, Liara can see her joy and happiness come out. She would do anything to make Shepard smile that way.

"Most do. I remember a saying I heard a long time ago, 'Children aren't the only ones who need heroes'. I always liked that idea, of having heroes as adults. Helps hold on to childhood, ya know?"

Liara nods her understanding. "That is understandable. Giving everyone something to believe in."

Shepard's comm lights up with an incoming call from the Normandy. "shepard here." She answers

"Commander, Joker here. Normandy is stocked and ready to fly."

"Good to hear, are all personnel on board?"

"Save yourself and Dr. T'soni, Ma'am. And Ms. Knute is still ashore."

"Roger that, we're on our way back. Call Deunan back in, and we'll be back in a few. Shepard out." She signs out of her com and looks to Liara, "Looks like time's run out on shore leave."

"I feel as I took all of your time. I do apologize."

"My time? Please, I'm happy to give it to you whenever you want." The words pop out of Shepard's mouth unbidden and she is shocked to know that they are true. What is she getting herself into?

"I am glad to hear that, Shepard." Liara look into the commander's amber eyes, telling herself, just be honest. Tell her what you're thinking. Be honest. "Um, Shepard. There's something I wanted to speak to you about. Back there, at the Thresher Maw. When you saved me. There was a moment, a.." She trails off unsure what to say.

"The embrace?" Shepard supplies, as Liara nods. "You want to know how I was feeling?"

"Yes, well, yes." Liara stumbles over her tongue. "When you were there, I felt something. Something more than simple gratitude. And then, when you were falling..And when you woke again and.." She trails off again.

Shepard is both relieved and frightened that Liara is admitting to the same feelings she herself feels. "Well, um, yes. There was, is, something there." She stops for a moment, letting her feet carry her ahead silently.

Liara watches Shepard, trying to puzzle out the range of emotions that run across her features. Be honest, Liara tells herself once more. Honest. "Shepard, I believe I am, well um, I believe I am start to grow, more than fond of you." She is glad that they have entered the shadows of the other vessels in the docking bay. The shadows help hide her flaming cheeks.

Shepard closes her eyes momentarily wishing beyond hope that Liara had not just spoken that. "Please, Liara. I, I care about you. I do. But well." She stops at the Normandy's dock and turns to look at Liara, making sure she catches the asari's eyes, those amazing deep blue eyes that hold galaxies in them, Shepard firmly grips her runaway feelings and says to Liara. "I want to care for you. Gods, you could never guess how much. But, look. I can't, ok? There is too much else. There isn't time, and I don't have the heart to spare for you." Shepard hates herself for rejecting this woman. BUt she can't. Never again will she ever go back to love. "I, I have been there before. I can't." She turns away from Liara, praying that she hasn't ruined any friendship they may have had going.

Liara listens to Shepard's admission, and rejection. She stands in numb disbelief as Shepard turns and walks away. A million thoughts run through her mind, and the only one that stays is what shepard said, she doesn't have the heart to spare. Liara has to fight the pain, grief, and confusion that well up inside her. As she boards she can hear Shepard speaking with Joker at the helm. Turning down the catwalk Liara returns to the room behind the medbay she has taken residence in. Once in private the tears fall.


	35. Chapter 35

Author's Note: Got a shorter chapter this time. Quite a lot that didn't want to expand into more words. Those who have read Broken will recognize this. Those who have not, well why have you not read it?! lols

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter thirty five

"Where the hell is that woman?" Shepard growls, pacing the bridge. Joker watching her nervously.

"It's only been five minutes." The glare Shepard gives him prompts him to amend with a "Ma'am." and fall silent.

"Did she have to walk all the way to omega and back?" Shepard growls. As she turns back towards the airlock the object of her frustration boards.

"Howdy there." Deunan greets. She sees the shadows and anger on Shepard's face and puts on a cheery grin, knowing it will infuriate the commander more. Holding her pack on her shoulder and a long narrow mahogany box in one hand.

"Howdy?" Shepard growls walking past Deunan. "Joker! Set a course for Feros, that's our next destination." She orders over her shoulder.

"Aye Ma'am." Joker says, watching the Commander leave.

"What's her problem?" Deunan asks Joker.

He just shakes his head. "I have no idea. and I like my head attached, you go find out."

"Thanks ever so." she drawls out as she makes her way to the crew deck.

It doesn't take Deunan long to find Shepard. As she steps into her new quarters, her meager belongings on her back, she spots her leaning against the wall by the door.

"Enjoy your walk?" Shepard says, her voice clipped anger.

"Somethin' the matter with ya darlin?" Deunan says in a mocking drawl of Shepard's natural accent. "And why are you in my quarters? Ain't ya got yer own?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Shepard's anger at Deunan deflates and she takes another pull of whiskey.

"I thought you and her were getting along nicely?" Deunan knows that the only thing to set Shepard off is the asari and Shepard's grudge and fear. She sets the box on the desk by where Shepard is leaning. "She seems quite taken with you." She opens her pack and starts pulling out her things. "And you with her." She winks at Shepard's aghast look.

"Where did you get that idea? Your arse?" Shepard nudges the box with her elbow, pushing it away slightly. "You can keep that."

"No, I have eyes, I can see there is something between you and her. You both light up when around the other, and I'm not just talking about her blushes." Deunan pushes the box so it bumps Shepard's hip. "That's yours, and about time you quit hiding it, and hiding from it. If you don't want it, pitch it. Or own up to it and quit pawning it off on me."

Shepard gives Deunan a dirty look, which is returned with Deunan's tongue and her middle finger. And Shepard shoves the box away again. "What makes you think, even if there was something, that I would do anything about it."

"Because I know you." Deunan pushes the box once more, hard enough to bruise. "You're too good hearted. Much as you close off, and have your flings, you can't keep it out forever."

"Are we talking the box or Liara?"

Deunan displays her middle finger again, "Liara. You can't keep running from her. Ship ain't that big."

"We'll see." Shepard draws the box closer. Deunan watches Shepard pull the box closer and stops her teasing to stand by her friend.

Shepard puts her hands on the simple brass fasteners and looks at Deunan. "Part of me is seriously hoping this will be empty."

"You know it isn't. it wasn't when you gave it to me, and I haven't opened it." Deunan reaches out, wrapping her tanned hands over Shepard's pale hands. "If you really don't want it, I'll chuck it now."

Shepard surprises herself when she pulls the box closer. "No, I'll keep it. I should keep it." She steps away from the desk, holding the box at her side, "I'll see you later, and thanks." Deunan watches Shepard leave and finishes of the whiskey she'd left behind.

Shepard sits on her rack, back in her cabin. Another whiskey poured and untouched beside her. The box across her lap. it's about three feet long, dark wood beaten up and scratched, deeply stained and shadowed by time and weather. She flips the small, brass latches open and hesitates before opening the lid.

Inside is a long relic of a rifle. The word '_Winchester_' is stamped deep into the dark wood that makes up the rifle. The metal fittings that support the rifle are tarnished nearly black, the wood of the rifle dark and polished smooth by care and human hands over the years. She gingerly lifts it out of it's faded, red felt bed, and holds it in her arms. Flashes of memory playing through her head. None stay long, each just the face and instant of death at the hands of her sixteen year old self. Ghosts that will never leave her in peace. Ghosts that will forever haunt this rifle, the object of their destruction. And not all were her enemies.

When the dry tears prick her eyes she sets it gently back in the case. Closing it reverently she sets it on end beside her locker. Memories. That's all she has, memories and that rifle. That's what is left of Home.

She stands up abruptly and walks from the cabin, heading towards the gym to wrestle out her emotions.


	36. Chapter 36

**Author's Note:** Hey there. Sorry (again) for my absence. Life is tricky right now. Doing the best I can for you guys. I hope you enjoyed my oneshots, if you read them. If not, why not?! Go, look. they are pretty. lols

alright, here you are, without further ado..

enjoy..

* * *

Chapter thirty six

Wrex sees the commander come down into the hold. He rarely sees many people down here. Garrus stops by occasionally, but neither of them even pretend to be friends. Comrades is the best they manage. Talking weapons and wars. Shepard though, Shepard has something else there. She is anything but a weak squishy human.

He walks up to where she is punching a heavy sand filled bag. "Shepard." He says, his voice gruff.

Shepard pauses in her beating to look up to Wrex. "Wrex." She responds simply. Then, when he remains silent, she resumes her abuse of the bag.

Wrex watches her for long minutes as she pummels the bag. He is impressed by the force she is able to impart with her fists. "Does hitting that cause any release?" He asks simply.

She pauses a moment to look at him, partially confused. "Release?"

"Do you feel stronger to punch such a stationary target?" Wrex tries to form into words the confusion he feels inside.

"It keeps my mind occupied." She responds before returning to her assault on the bag. Wrex falls silent and watches her again. When a considerable amount of timepasses without him saying anything more, or moving, her curiosity and annoyance get the better of her. She stops abruptly and turns to glare at him. "Was there something you needed?" She snaps.

Wrex simply grunts noncommittally and walks away. Shepard sighs in frustration and grabs a towel to dry the sweat from her face. She then snaps it around her neck. Grabbing her canteen she upends it, drinks all the water quickly, then heads up to the crew deck.

She enters her quarters. Pitching her canteen towards the reclaimer she hears it clatter to the floor as she strips off her sweat soaked tank and sports bra. She towels off quickly then pulls on a fresh bra and tank. She grabs a clean blouse, pulling it on she buttons it as she moves up to the CIC.

Stepping onto the deck she smooths the blouse straight and moves up to the galaxy map.

"Joker, what's our ETA?" She leans against the rail eyeing their position in the Theseus System.

"Coming into orbit now, Ma'am." Joker says on the com.

"Roger that. Have we any contact from the colony?"

"That's a neg, Ma'am. Zhu's hope still has power but aren't answering any hails. We've got a Geth signature docked nearby."

"Looks like we're going in hot." Shepard turns back towards the lift, "Get Wrex, Garrus, and Tali sortied for my ground team."

* * *

"Rocket!" Shepard cries out, barely managing to shove Tali behind a low partition on the dock before the man they were talking to explodes. showering them all with blood and gore. "Garrus!"

She spots Garrus come up from behind his cover, sniper rifle ready. He draws a bead on the Geth Rocket trooper and fires. The shot hits it straight and true, dropping the trooper. "You're clear Shepard, go." Garrus drops to reload the rifle while Shepard, Tali, and Wrex move out. Providing cover and pushing the Geth back from the Normandy's docking bay.

Shepard has to admire Wrex's guts, if not his sense. he quickly charges straight into the fray, laying about with his shotgun and biotics. She didn't really get a chance to watch him in action on Therum, but here. Here seems to be his element. It doesn't take long to clear out the geth.

"Let's make our way to the colony and hope there aren't more Geth waiting for us there."

"Roger that." Wrex sets off, taking point as the move through the halls leading away from the docks. The colony proper, or what's left of it, is clustered around prefab capsule living spaces. All are connected haphazardly.

As they come up to the entrance a wary group of civilians cry out for them to halt. Shepard looks them over. They are scared and half starved by the look of things. Two of the four do seem to be actual fighters though, so she halts and signals her squad to do so. "Easy does it, we're here to help."

"How do we know you aren't with the Geth?" A woman calls out, she has a lieutenant's badge on her collar.

"We just cleared your docking bay to get here. I'm sure you heard the shots. We aren't with the geth."

"Stand down, stand down." A man comes into view, as thin and haggard as the rest, he has an air of authority. As his guards ease up Shepard steps by.

"Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance." She extends her hand and he shakes it.

"Fai Dan. I'm the leader here. Or what's left of us to lead." He turns and starts to walk toward the structures. "The geth showed up earlier this week. No one knows what they're doing here. They seem to be focused on the Exogeni building. Thy send out raiding parties a couple times a day. We're wearing down, getting desperate."

"We're here for relief. We need to know what brings the geth here though."

"Fai Dan! We've got another patrol coming in!"

Shepard snaps around, "Move out squad, we need to push them back before they get into the colony."

Pressing the geth troopers into the stairwell proved easy enough. Once they were dispatched the first step Shepard took on the stairwell, something shoots her in the chest, she falls back to the deck, growling. Feeling as if someone had just punched her hard in the chest.

"Shepard!" Garrus calls out, kneeling beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." she growls, shrugging him off and sitting up. "Go figure out what the fuck that was. It came from up high."

Garrus trots off, carefully scoping out the stairwell with his sniper. Tali comes over to help Shepard stand.

A distinct wet, and metallic slapping sound gets their attention. Shepard trots up to where Garrus has a Geth construct dead in his sights. It is small, half the size of a trooper. It has webbed feet, and some kind of plasma rifle mounted where a head should be.

"What is that?" Shepard levels her pistol on the strange geth. Tali kneels down by it, shipping her shotgun. "Tali, be careful!"

"It's alright commander. Garrus has effectively killed it. It is not active." Tali takes extensive scans with her omnitool before standing again and unshipping her shotgun.

Shepard nods curtly and leads them up the stairwell. Following the remnants of the geth assault, the few troopers left, they lead Shepard and her squad into where they had landed a raiding shuttle.

Pressing forward and destroying the last of the troopers, they quickly learn that untrue. Two geth sentinels. air drones, and a squad of troopers pour out of the shuttle.

Tali dispatches the aerial drones quick enough, Garrus sets to work on the troopers. But the sentinels are two fast. both of them come rushing down upon Shepard and her squad. Moving faster than anything eight feet tall should ever move.

"Son of a bitch.." Shepard swears as firing off her pistol to little effect as the sentinels close the gap fast.


	37. Chapter 37

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! Yes, I'm still alive and writing. Sorry for the delay. Life got a bit on the crazy side here, and I had a major case of writer's block. It's still lingering like that pesky cold bug, but fear not! I am still here and this story will go on.

Thanks to everyone who has stuck around. It means a lot to me.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter thirty seven

Shepard dives to the side, narrowly avoiding the oncoming sentinels. Laying on her back she fires her pistol over her legs into the head of the sentinel, hoping to shatter optics, or distract it.

She blasts an overload into it, focusing on its shield generator, then switches her focus. Getting to her feet she tweaks her omnitool sending a dampening pulse to the sentinel, its rifle sparks and crackles, the electronics disrupted. She jumps on this opportunity, and fires her pistol into its head. The face place cracks and shatters under her onslaught, the light soon follows and the hum of electronics, and the geth's strange clicking communication falters and stops. The sentinel freezes up and falls to the side, an empty hunk of metal.

Shepard quickly turns her attention to the second sentinel that is not far behind its partner. Tali helps with this one as they alternate overloads and bullets in tandem, it doesn't take long to fall.

"Well, " Shepard huffs, dusting her hands and releasing the spent thermal clip, injecting a new one. "That was a fine tussle. C'mon, let's get back to the colony, there's nothing left here."

Meeting up with Fai Dan Shepard reports the all clear. "Thank you so much, it's a huge relief."

"Do you know what the Geth are here for? Why they're here?" Shepard looks around the colony. Other than Fai dan and the guards at the gate, the rest of the colony seems entirely unphased by the attack.

Fai dan calls her attention back. "They have focused on the Exo-geni building. I don't know what they want, but they docked their ship there too."

"How do we get there? Sounds like that's where we need to be."

"You can't they've got the sky bridge completely blockaded. You could never get across."

"We're resourceful. Just point us in the right direction."

Fai Dan looks troubled but tells them how to get to the bridge. "We have mako class transports up there. So at least you'll have some firepower."

* * *

Once out on the skybridge Shepard understands what Fai Dan meant about not surviving. The entire bridge is crawling with Geth rocket troopers and colossus platforms.

"Keelah, why are there so many?" Tali is in the driver's seat, Garrus holding co-pilot chair, and Wrex standing on in the hold behind Shepard.

"Your guess is as good as mine. There has to be something here Saren wants bad enough for this much force." Shepard is up in the turret seat again blasting her way through the geth. Two geth colossus block the road ahead, a multitude of rocket troopers surrounding them.

Tali brings the mako to a slow halt, "We can't make it through all of them. What do we do?"

Shepard growls and looks around, taking in everything in their surroundings. "Wait, there. Do you see that incline? Up to the upper road? If we hit that fast enough, we can activate the thrusters at the top, that should launch us over the blockade."

"What about when we return?" Tali sounds hesitant and wary.

"Well, we'll deal with that when we come back. Now go." Shepard twists in her harness, trying to see into the cockpit. "Garrus, can you man the thrusters? Activate them when we reach the

top of the incline? Just before we level out on the road."

"Ok Shepard." Garrus agrees. "Has anyone ever told you you're insane?"

"Many a time." Shepard says with a laugh as she straightens in the harness to fire into the blockade to eliminate as many targets as she can.

The mako lurches forward as Tali puts the pedal to the metal, blasting towards the incline just in front of the blockade. Shepard switches to the machine turret to try and force the troops into cover and limit the amount of return fire on them. Just as the mako tilts sideways to the left before leveling to the right, Shepard cries out, "Now!"

Garrus throws the thrusters into full power. They are all thrown hard into their harnesses as the Mako shoots off the incline, blasting over the geth. Garrus adjusts the stabilizing thrusters as they near the edge of the bridge, the mako settles level onto the road as Tali drives it forward full throttle again.

Shepard twists the turret around and fires the cannon into the unprotected rears of the colossus, one explodes, lighting up in flame. the debris blasts outward killing several of the troopers, and chunks crash into the second colossus, sending it toppling over sideways. Before Tali drives them out of range, Shepard fires one more rocket into the fray, it explodes in a cloud of dust, debris and fire.

"That's how it's done!" Se cries out laughing. "Good job Tali, Garrus. Well done."

She can hear Garrus and tali laughing. Wrex stays quiet in the rear. "Let's go. Still have a lot ahead of us."

The last section of the bridge is clear of contacts, thankfully. As they near the bend that will take them to the exo-geni building the radio crackles to life. "help, please...we need..."static interrupts the signal as Tali slows to a stop, Shepard drops from the turret to look over their shoulders at the center console, waiting for the signal to return. "..repeat..we need help...we're employees...escaped..." the message ends abruptly in a crackle of static.

"That had to be a short range transponder." Tali says stepping out of the vehicle. Shepard and Garrus quickly follow, Wrex bringing up the rear.

"How do you know?" Garrus asks Tali as he scans the area.

Shepard answers him as Tali tries to track the signal on her omnitool, "All long range coms are disrupted, blocked. They have to be nearby, to use it in a very short radius."

"Here!" Tali calls out, trotting to a accessway down below the road. "The signal's coming from down there."

Shepard draws her rifle as she nears the ramp down to the underside. "Alright, we'll take it slow, could be a trap." She signals Tali to take point with her, Garrus and Wrex to watch their flanks and the rear. As they near the bottom of the ramp someone calls out to them.

"Halt! We're armed and ready to defend ourselves. Identify yourself, who are you?"

Shepard can't help rolling her eyes, then calls back, "Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance. I and my squad are coming in. Don't fire." They ease down the ramp. weapons pointed to the ground, but ready to aim and fire on a second's notice.

Nearing the bottom of the ramp it levels off and they see a trio of guards kneeling behind a low divider. "That's far enough." One of them calls out. A man comes out from behind the line. "You aren't geth. Who are you? How can we trust you?"

A woman rushes forward and gives him a push. "Lay off. Can't you see they're friends. Help." She turns to Shepard. "Please, we're all that made it out of the building when the geth attacked. We're so afraid we're all that's left."

Shepard ships her rifle, her crew following suit as the guards settle back, lowering their own weapons. "I'm Commander Shepard. Some of the Zhu's Hope colonists survived. They're secure at the docks. Can you tell us what happened?"

The woman extends her hand to shake, "Julianna Baynham. Please, I'm sorry. It all happened so fast. We just ran, tried to get out as fast as possible. My daughter," Juliana pauses a moment, her voice cracked slightly. "My daughter, Lizbeth, she didn't make it out. I'm afraid, she's a smart girl..but,"

Shepard holds her hand up, "I'll keep an eye out for her. We'll do all we can to find her."

Juliana smiles warmly. "Thank you. I don't know how much help we can be. We don't know why the Geth came. There are plenty of experiments we have been working on. Nothing hazardous, nothing dangerous. Mostly botanical studies."

"Botanical?" Shepard asks confused. "There's nothing but ruins here. What is there to study?"

The man from before snaps at them. "Nothing, nothing! We don't need Alliance sniffing around. As soon as we can get through communications, Exogeni will send help. We can handle this ourselves." He glares at both Shepard and Juliana.

"I don't care about anything Exo-geni may be up to. I just need to know what is in there. Something in other brought the beth here. I need to know what you know."

The man scowls and crosses his arms.

Juliana glares at him before turning back to Shepard. "If you stay on the skyway, it will end at the garage, it's the loading docks of the building. That will be the best way in for you. It's on the far side of the building from the ship."

Shepard signals her squad to move out and turns to go herself when Juliana grabs her elbow, "Please, find my Lizzy. Find my baby.."

Shepard pats her hand lightly and steps away. "I will." She quick marches to the Mako and climbs into the turret, Tali is in the driver's seat, Wrex and Garrus braced in the back. "Let's go. We've got a building full of more mystery than I care for."


	38. Chapter 38

**Author's Note:** Hey there. I'm back, sorry for the long wait. Took me a long while to give writer's block a swift kick in the pants. Breaking the Exogeni base into two chapters. Then back to Zhu's Hope and off this annoying planet.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Thirty eight

Stepping into the building from the garage Shepard looks around warily. "This screams trap. It's too silent. There's a Geth ship riding pillion on this building but not a single trooper anywhere around. This point of entry should be guarded. Where are they?"

Garrus steps up to clear the stairwell from the garage. "Not a soul in sight. You're right, this feels wrong."

Wrex pushes past them growling "Wrong or not, I'm going." He starts up the stairwell, striding confidently.

Shepard rolls her eyes and groans, then quicksteps after Wrex, taking point. "If we get shot, I'm not letting you take the bullet. We're a team." Wrex growls deep in his throat but let's her take point, drawing his shotgun and holding it ready. Tali falls in between Shepard and Wrex, her omnitool lit up and scanning. Garrus comes up last, sniper at the ready, head on a swivel.

Tali sharply taps Shepard's elbow about three floors up and says softly, "We've got someone above us. Heat signature reads big."

"Heat? Geth don't give off heat." She looks up at the ceiling, wondering who is right above them, friend or foe? "Alright, nice and easy, no sudden movements or sounds. Let's take a look, see what we've got. Garrus, swap places with Wrex, I need you on my six, in case he's not friendly. Wrex, stay back I need you to watch the stairs, incase we're ambushed." Garrus nods, him and Wrex swap places.

Easing up the stairwell Shepard keeps her eyes forward, trusting Garrus and Wrex to watch for any surprises. As she gets in sight of the target she signals her squad to hold. Standing at the top of the stairs is a Krogan, big and nasty, he's got both a shotgun and assault rifle strung across his back, and he's arguing with a VI avatar.

"Just tell me what I need to know!" He growls out.

"I'm sorry," The VI says in it's default cheery tone, "You do not have the proper security clearance. Please see HR for any inquiries."

"There isn't an HR left to talk to, and you won't be far behind if you don't let me in!"

"I'm sorry," The VI repeats, "You do not have the proper security clearance. Please see HR for any inquiries."

The Krogan draws his shotgun to blast the console, and it takes every ounce of restraint for Shepard to not shoot him first. As she raises her rifle, ready for him to turn around she hears the crackle of his radio coms, "..return to base, all scouts and sentries, return to base.." The radio crackles to silence and the krogan punches uselessly through the VI holo before storming off down an adjacent hall.

Shepard sighs softly and mounts the stairwell. She glances down the dark hall, listening at the fading sounds of the Krogan leaving. "All clear." She says, signalling her squad forward. "Wrex, keep an eye on that hall, in case he returns. Garrus, watch the stairs. Tali, see if you can help me with this VI."

The men fan out taking up their stations as Shepard and Tali approach the VI. "Requesting access to the previous inquiries." She states simply.

"Please state ID for clearance." The VI intones.

"Lizbeth Baynham." She says, hoping the girl's name alone will unlock the system, highly doubting it though. As the seconds drag by, the VI unresponsive, she signals Tali forward to hack it and gain access.

As Tali kneels beside the console the VI speaks up, "Access granted. Welcome back Ms. Baynham. How may I be of service?"

Shepard looks to Tali and back to the VI, "Give me access to the files pertaining to the previous inquiries."

"The previous inquiries were in relation to the Species 37 Project."

"Please define the Project, give me the information."

"Species 37 is also known as the Thorian. It is an ancient sentient plant dating back fifty thousand years at minimum. It has the ability to hibernate for thousands of years making exact age unknown. The Thorian is a unique creature with a massive sensory network. It releases spores into the air that allow the Thorian to control those who inhale them. These 'thralls' then tend to the Thorian and obey its will. The Thorian has a weave of tendrils that covers much of the surface of Feros with some sensory tendrils kilometres long, though in places they are gathered into nerve bundles or neural nodes."

"A mind controlling plant?" Garrus sounds incredulous. "That's ridiculous."

"Garrus, we came here in a spaceship, capable of jumping light years in nanoseconds, and we are fighting Artificial Intelligence robots. I'd say nothing is impossible anymore." She turns back to the VI, "Where is the location of Species 37?"

"Species 37 is located underneath the Zhu's Hope colony."

"Under the colony? You were using those people as experiments?"

"I am sorry, you do not have clearance for that information." Shepard looks to Tali and nods. As Tali approaches the console and sets to work sudden sparks flash out of the console and the VI flickers and goes out. The lights in the halls flicker as well, setting off sparks as the ground shudders momentarily.

"What the hell was that?" Shepard twists around to look back at her team, all have their guns raised and stances set, wary.

"Maybe the ship has decided to leave?" Tali says, "It would account for the power surge, and the tremors."

"Why would it suddenly decide that?"

"They found what they needed?" Tali hedges in.

Shepard sighs and starts down the hallway, signalling them to fall in. "If that's the case then I need to find it out too. What's here that Saren wants?"


	39. Chapter 39

**Author's Note:** Hey there guys. Got a new pretty for you. Two in one week, is a shocker, I know. :p

Nearing the end of Feros. Thsi chapter was actually really fun to write.

Enjoy

* * *

Chapter thirty nine

The long hallway lets out into a dark and deserted mess hall. Tables shoved aside, plates and trays scattered across the floor. Shepard sees the sad forms of bodies, left haphazardly where they died.

Wrex and Garrus fan out to search the room, inspecting the bodies for signs of how they died. Shepard kneels beside the closest body, a young man, his blonde hair is smeared with a long scorched gash across the back of his head. The blood is clotted and she can see the black marks across his skull. His shoulder has a hole burned clean through it. "The Geth did this." She says standing up, "These are the same injuries Jenkins had. Plasma burns. Any signs of survivors?"

"None yet Commander." Garrus calls, he has reached the far wall, looking behind the counter into their dish room, and under the tables nearby.

Shepard steps over the body and turns toward the buffet line against the lefthand wall. As she moves down the line, her eyes taking in the bodies strewn around, a sound catches her attention along the backside of the line. She draws her pistol in a flash and whips around, aiming it straight into the startled, terrified face of a young woman.

"Please, please don't shoot...I'm sorry!" She cries out, throwing her arms up and backing away.

"Shit." She swears out, lowering her pistol. "Do you realize how close you were to having a hole blown through your head? What were you doing back there? Who are you?"

"My name, it's, is Lizbeth." The girl stutters and stumbles, tears pricking her eyes and her hands shaking violently.

"Put your hands down, take a sit, before you fall over." When the girl does Shepard continues questioning her. "Lizbeth. Baynham by chance?"

"Yes, how, how did you know?"

"I've spoken with your mother. She's alright, and worried about you."

"Oh, Oh good.." She sighs softly, her hands clasped loosely in her lap.

"Look, I'm sure you've been through a right scare. But I need answers. What do you know about the Thorian?"

She looks up startled. "You, you know about it? How?"

"Never mind that. I need to know why the Geth are here, and what you know about the Thorian."

"I don't know anything. I"m just a botanist. I don't study the effects they say it has, I don't even know where it is! I just do my job. I don't ask questions. Please, just let me go. Let me see my mother."

"Alright. Our vehicle is in the garage, keep going past that, they're holed up in bunker just at the edge of the tunnel. I can't protect you, you're going at your own risk, otherwise stay here and we'll try and come back for you."

Lizbeth stands shakily and nods. "I'd rather take my chances out there, than in here."

Garrus steps up and holds out his pistol. "Take this, you may need it. If you see any Geth, hide, if you have to shoot, aim for the optics."

She nods shakily, taking the pistol. "Thank you. For, saving me." She looks to Shepard and nods decisively. "I'll go, I need to see my mother."

Shepard nods and clasps the girl's shoulder lightly. "Stay safe." Lizbeth smiles faintly then turns and leaves. "Goddess bless you." She whispers softly, praying the girls makes it safely.

Tali calls out from across the room, "Shepard, the door out is locked, I'll have to hack the lock to get us out."

Shepard moves out across the room, and stands behind Tali, hard at work her fingers flying across the controls of her omnitool as she works the console lock on the door. "Someone seriously did not want anyone following." Shepard steps forward, doing a quick scan with her own tool. "There's two levels of encryption? What is back there?"

"Whatever it is, they are no match for me." Tali makes a exclamation of success as the door chimes unlocked and slides open.

Going through the doors, Tali falls in behind and beside Shepard, Garrus behind them, Wrex bringing up the rear. There is a short hallway, leading to a narrow stairwell. At the top of the stairs, it opens into a large storage and warehouse room. A set of stairs to the right leads up to a narrow catwalk, another set of stairs on the other side. Under the catwalk is a ten foot high wall of crates blocking the path through.

As they step through the doorway, Shepard hears the small, subtle chirps and chitters the Geth make and quickly signals her squad to freeze. She does a slow, cursory scan around their half of the room. "No contacts" she says softly, taking careful steps to the stairway up the catwalk. She signals them to crouch low as they crest the catwalk.

On the level below there are three geth troopers and a sniper standing in the far corner, his rifle strung across his back. They all are standing at console stations. One Sentinel trooper stands guard over a long bank of consoles, heavy pressure valves and switches line the wall on and above the console.

"Garrus, I need you to take that sniper, Tali, you and I have the Sentinel, we don't want that big guy on the loose. Wrex, do your thing, the troopers are all yours"

Wrex pumps his fist into his hand, giving a slight grunt of approval, his biotics lighting up."they don't stand a chance."

"Alright team, break." Shepard stands to a knee, firing off an overload blast to the sentinel's shields. Tali deviates a bit from the plan, sabotaging one of the troopers to turn and attack the Sentinel.

"Hey!" Wrex growls, "That one was mine." He vaults over the railing, landing with a resounding crunch into the concrete. Standing up he biotically throws one of the troopers into the wall, its head exploding into a shower of sparks. Garrus fires two shots into the head of the sniper. The first takes its shields before it dives and rolls into cover.

Shepard turns back to the Sentinel, firing her gun into it's optics, focusing an overload to its cannon she tries to short it out. The sentinel gets a shot off, Garrus rolls to the side, across the catwalk swearing as he dodges. Tali squeaks briefly and flattens herself to the deck. Shepard, left with nowhere else to go, rolls down the stairwell. The bolt of super heated plasma passes entirely too close over her head, exploding on the ceiling, raining concrete debris and sparks down on them.

Coming to her knee she unloads a full clip into the sentinel, realising only too late how close she'd gotten. It sweeps its main gun arm to the side, catching her across her right shoulder. Her shoulder lights in pain as she goes skidding across the wall to fetch up against the console, jarring her head. She groans, swearing as she gets up. Shaking it off she feels a weaker shot glance off her shoulder and back, turning she sees one of the troopers has fired on her.

"Wrex!" she calls out, dropping to a knee she fires off two shots, hitting the chest to spark the shields. "You missed one." Its chest explodes off, Wrex's shotgun blasting through. Stray pellets ping of her chest plate and shields. "Wai! Hit them, not me." She calls out before turning her attention back to the sentinel. Its focus has been on the sabotaged trooper that is well scarred by plasma bolts. Tali hard at work reboosting it's shields and keeping it hacked and under her control.

Shepard fires another overload, the sentinel's shields spark and finally fail with a crackling pop. She grins and unloads a full clip into the optics, firing incinerates to damage its gun. The sentinel fires a shot, destroying the hacked trooper. Tali shifts her focus to the sentinel, using her sabotage to slow it down. Its programing too strong to be fully hacked.

Garrus finishes his target, its body falling with a round clean through its chest. He adds his fire to the sentinel fight, taking out the optics of the sentinel. Wrex uses his warp and blasts the gun out of commision, leaving Shepard to come in under its head. She fires three shots under the unarmored jaw and up into the head. The platform freezes, sparks cascading out. Shepard jumps back, rolling away just in time as the body of the sentinel explodes, scattering into a multitude of metal chunks and debris.

Shepard turns to survey the room, both of Wrex's troopers lay in crumpled heaps, shotgun blast holes ragged in their chests. Garrus' target is down, scorch marks showing where his shots hit, the small hole to the center mass showing his precision accuracy.

"Shepard, this console controls the safeties to the shuttle bay door." Tali waves Shepard over, "The readout says that's where the ship is docked."

Shepard looks over the console displays. "Pressurizing the hydraulics might overload the safeties. Are the doors heavy enough to sever the ship's hold?"

"If we get the pressure between 31 and 34 psi, it should do the trick."

"Alright. Time to play with the vents." Shepard throws the switch on the farthest left vent and watches the pressure rise to 13psi.

"Going to need more than that Shepard." Wrex chuckles at her.

She shoots him a dark look, "Wrex." she draws out in a warning tone.

He looks to her, his krogan grin menacing and mischievous at the same time. "Shepard." He nods chuckling again.

She rolls her eyes and turns back to the console. Shepard hits the second switch, the pressure rises, and settles at 20 psi. Hitting the third switch it goes up to 36 psi.

"Hwun dan." She grumbles as the valves hiss and reset. Wrex chuckles again, she turns to glare at him. "Bizui." Wrex chuckles once more and goes silent.

Shepard flips the first switch again, 13 psi, then turns the third, 29 psi. She grasps the fourth switch and says a silent curse to the Trickster to not screw with her. The fourth one puts the pressure in that beautiful sweet spot, 32 psi.

Loud siren alarms ring out, the console lights with flashing red warnings. A message alert displays reading, 'Max pressure, over breach, emergency venting.' A screen opens up showing a split view of the interior of the shuttle bay, and an exterior view, showing the Geth ship clinging like a bug to the building's side. Red warning lights and sirens go off on either side of the airlock door ways. The doors snap shut, stopping briefly when they encounter the thick claws, before shearing them cleanly, like a knife through butter. The ship hangs outside for a breath, reluctant to give up its grip, slowly slipping down. It clips a jutting piece of the building then bounces slightly away tumbling into the mists below.

Tali lets out a cry of jubilation. Garrus laughs outright, slapping her on the back, Shepard grins, tapping the console gladly. Wrex just guffaws in his deep krogan rumble.

She turns away from the console to address them, "Alright, that's that. There might still be troops inside, keep your eyes peeled. I don't want any surprises." Nodding they set off, retracing their steps back to the exit and the Mako.


	40. Chapter 40

**Author's Note:** I'm getting good at the deadline/once a week thing. Now that I've got the hang of it it's full steam ahead to finish and get off Feros. Hoo-ray!  
Probly got one more chapter before then though.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter forty

As they exit the building and start up the Mako Joker comes across the coms. "Commander? Commander, are you there?"

"This is Shepard, I read you. What's going on?"

"It's the colonists Commander. I don't know what happened but they've all gone ape shit crazy on us. They're battering at the door trying to get in."

"What happened?" Shepard barks at him.

"I don't know. It was like they just snapped and went all zombie on us. We've sealed the doors, they're not getting in."

"Alright, sit tight, we're on our way back now."

"Yes ma'am. Be aware, you have a lot of Geth that have occupied the Skyway. Whatever you did in there, I'd say it pissed them off."

Shepard can't help but to grin, "Roger that, Shepard out." She flips off the coms and looks back at her squad. "Garrus, you've got the wheel. Tali, is there anything you can do to give the mako an extra punch? Speed is of the essence."

Tali looks to her omni tool, doing quick calculations, "If we can get back to the bunker where the refugees are, I can use some of their parts and I should be able to modify the turret to generate an EMP shot, rather than the standard explosive rounds. That should disrupt the Geth. Without their ship it would disable the platforms."

"I knew I brought you along for a reason." Shepard beams to Tali and claps her on the back. "Alright, let's get to that bunker. I don't want to leave the Normandy and the colonist too much longer."

Near the bunker the radio crackles and Juliana Baynham's voice comes over the static, "Help us, please. To anyone that can hear this, please, help us. We need..." She's cut off abruptly as the radios crackles into static again.

The mako comes to a stop outside the bunker, Shepard jumps out and quick marches down the ramp, her squad right behind her.

"You can't call anyone." Jeong yells presumably at Juliana. "Exogeni can take care of this. They'll have ships here in a day, maybe less. The Alliance can't know about the Thorian!"

"Those people of the colony deserve better. We did this to them." Juliana responds to him, her voice clipped and angry.

"We had to know how the creature works. Think of the advancements to science we can make. The results of the test subjects is astounding."

"Those test subjects are people. Humans!" Lizbeth cuts into the argument, pushing her mother back, Garrus' pistol still in her hand.

"Exogeni will fix this. They'll have to purge the colony."

"You can't!" Lizbeth cries, she steps forward, raising her pistol.

Shepard steps forward, "Lizbeth, drop the gun. Now." she calls out as they step off the ramp. Lizbeth turns her head to look at Shepard, momentarily distracted. Jeong takes the advantage and grabs the gun from her hand, shoving her to the side. Shepard's hand reaches for her sidearm.

Jeong raises the pistol, pointing it straight at her. "Back off. Get out of here. We don't need the Alliance. Leave or I'll shoot you!"

Shepard takes her hand away from her gun and looks to Jeong. "Hey, take it easy. We know what you've done. We know about the Thorian."

"We did what we had to do. We had to know how the creature worked. What it is."

"So you used an entire colony for lab rats?" Shepard catches Juliana's eye and looks left, trying to signal her to move.

"They were already under its thrall, we just isolated the colony. Prevent the contamination of anyone else."

"And now that the Geth know of it, the big wigs decided to burn the colony. Erase all trace. One fatal flaw, I know about it now. The Alliance will be called and brought in to help these people. You and your company will face charges." Shepard grinds her teeth in distaste.

His grip tightens on the gun as he readies to fire, "Then I'll have to stop you."

"Drop the gun Jeong. I'm a trained N7 marine, and a Council Spectre. You only get the one warning. Drop it or I drop you." She draws her side arm, pointing it straight at him.

She can see the doubts cross his face before he levels the gun, his hand tightening. She reacts without thought, on pure instinct. Two shots ring out, Jeong falls to the ground, two holes through his heart.

"Shepard!" Juliana calls out, shocked.

"What? He drew on me. I gave him a warning. He didn't listen." She looks back at her squad, they seem mostly unphased, Garrus and Wrex have their weapons half drawn. "Tali, we need that Mako rigged yesterday. I don't want to wait any longer, who knows what those colonists are doing." Turning back to Lizbeth and her mother she asks, "Is there a mechanic here? Someone with engineering skills? Tali says she can rig our cannon to fire an EMP instead of explosive. She needs parts."

"Yes, Luke can help. He works on our ATVs." Juliana waves a young man over, he has already grabbed a tool belt and box.

"Whatcha need love?" He says to Tali as he leads her to the back towards a run down vehicle. They carry various crates and equipment back towards the Mako, Tali stopping just long enough to tell Shepard it won't take more than a few minutes to get the rig right.

"Commander, the colonists are under the thrall of the Thorian. They'll be hostile to any invaders. Can you subdue them, without killing any?" Juliana says to Shepard.

"I don't have anything that would do that. Soldiers don't exactly go around carry canisters of tear gas."

"Oh, wait!" Lizbeth exclaims before rummaging in her pockets. "Here, this might work. It's a nerve gas, it's not weapons grade. But it should work to knock them out." She hands Shepard a canister and a few gas grenades.

"Do I want to know why a research plant has riot grenades and nerve gas?"

"Probably best not to ask." Lizbeth says with a small grin.

Shepard shakes her head, pocketing the canister and grenades. She extends her hand to shake both the Baynham's. "We'll send a message to the Alliance once we're back aboard the Normandy. Get some reliefs ships out here for you all."

"Thank you Commander, stay safe."

Shepard nods and replies, "You as well." before turning away, waving Garrus and Wrex to follow back up to the Mako.

The man, Luke, is just dusting his hands and jumping down from the canon as they approach. "All set Commander. She'll fire an EMP burst about half the distance you're used to, so watch out for that. It's strong enough to disable a ten foot radius of any electronics, should work out on those Geth."

"Thanks." Shepard shakes his hand, clapping him on the shoulder. "That's good to here. Help should be coming soon, I'll make sure of it."

Luke nods and waves, turning he jogs back into the bunker. Garrus and Wrex climb into the Mako. Shepard takes her position in the turret again as Tali drives them out onto the Skyway.


	41. Chapter 41

**Author's Note:** Yay! New chapter. Enjoy and say good bye to Feros. The fun really gets going now. You guys enjoy!

Read and Review please!

* * *

Chapter forty one

Getting across the bridge is easier than they expected. The EMP turret proves very effective in shutting down and obliterating the Geth forces. In no time they've made it to the closed door to the garage of the colony.

Dismounting from the mako Shepard takes a moment to stretch out her aching shoulders, the modified cannon packed a heavier punch into her shoulders and chest.

"Commander," Garrus draws her attention, indicating a prone human silhouette near the controls to the garage. "Who is that? A colonist?" Shepard puts her hand to her pistol, cautiously advancing toward the figure. Closer up she can see the skin is tinged a sickly green color, it has no clothes, and she can't discern any gender marks, man or woman. Its head is hanging down, arms loose at its side.

"Hello? Are you injured? Can you hear me?" She grips her pistol tighter, half drawing it as she walks closer. The head snaps up suddenly and it turns toward her. Whoever this was, it is no longer human. The eyes are black empty sockets, the skin shriveled up, baring teeth turned yellow. The fingers of its hands have formed together to make two long claws, its thumb elongating into a third. A low moan comes from the creature as it turns toward her, its gait shuffling, uncertain.

Her pistol is up in an instant. "Stay right there. Can you hear me? Can you understand me?" The creature's jaw opens up impossibly wide, the lower mandible appearing to be unhinged. It leaps at her, a blur of motion as the claws raise to attack. She drops it with two shots to the chest cavity and a kick on its upper chest, knocking it back. She fires three times into its head to ensure its death.

"What is that thing?" Tali exclaims as she draws close to look. "Was this one of the colonists?"

Garrus kneels down by the head and moves it from side to side, examining it. "I can't tell, if it was, then that creature does more than control their minds."

"It controls their bodies." Shepard finishes for him, looking down at the thing in disgust and pity. "It feeds off of them. Look at how emaciated it is." She shakes her head and turns away towards the doors. "Come on, there's nothing more we can do here, we have to stop this creature before anyone else gets killed."

* * *

Things do not improve once inside the colony. All of the colonists are still human, but completely under the control of the Thorian. Their supply of nerve gas goes quickly forcing them to choose who lives and who dies. Unarmed civilians, or armed guards, all of them are attacking them.

Fai Dan is the last colonist standing, he is blocking a capsule that has a stairwell underneath. He appears to be fighting some inner turmoil, trying to keep control of his mind and body. "Commander...please...we didn't know..." He holds a pistol shaking in his hand, half raised to shoot. He can barely keep it down.

"Fai Dan, please, drop the gun." Shepard reaches out her hand. "Give it here. We'll find a way to help you, we can save you."

"You can't..the whispers..so many, whispers in the dark...come to take you...keep you...such darkness...whispers so loud..." He claws at his head frantically with his free hand, and raises the pistol, pointing straight at her. "So loud! Demanding...kill! Kill!"

"Fai Dan, no!" Shepard's pistol is raised and aimed dead on his heart, her hand steady. "Don't do this, let us help you!"

"No help...no rest...can't hold...on.." He brings his other hand to steady the gun, readying to fire. "Kill! Kill!"

As his finger tightens on the trigger he lurches back, three shots ringing out. Two holes blossom in his chest, blood seeping down, his face ashen as he falls dead to the ground. His one shot slams into the shoulder pad of her armor, knocking her back. She stays on her feet, grunting from the impact. Mass accelerated slugs fired point blank hurt, no matter how much armor one wears.

"Shepard!" Tali runs to her side, hands resting on her arm, "Are you ok?"

She gives Tali a grin and rolls her shoulder. "All good, let's go." She kneels down to close Fai Dan's eyes, whispering a short prayer before standing and cautiously approaching the entrance to the stairwell. A warm damp breeze permeates the air as they descend down. "Anyone ever felt warm air underground?" She asks as they advance, the air feeling more humid the further they go.

"I'll take that as rhetorical." Garrus says, "None of us coming from anything like this place."

Shepard shoots him a wry grin and signals a halt as they reach the bottom.

Sunlight filters down a vast hollow. Deep and perfectly round. A massive mound of slowly moving, flesh, or growth, hangs from the walls of the hollow. It is dark flesh colored, bulbous and, to be frank, horribly ugly. "Liara'd love this." She mutters under her breath, stepping out cautiously onto a ledge of the hollow, the chasm continuing down below into darkness.

She lowers her pistol, staring up at the creature in fascination, the sheer size of it is impressive. It must be ancient to have gotten so large. A disturbance happens on the lower end, a set of vines, or tentacles, start moving erratically. A strange gurgling sound is emitted, as a body falls out encased in thick slime.

It slowly stands up, showing it to be an Asari. Her skin is a strange green color close to that of the thrall they met. "You do not belong here." Her voice is dead panned, deep and reverberatting, her body hangs limp, like a marionette with its strings slack. "Those who scurry are no longer welcome."

"We come seeking information is all. We are chasing a man, he is called Saren, he looks like my friend here." She indicates Garrus, who gives her a scowl.

"We know of whom you speak. He came seeking information of those who are gone."

"Who are they? What did he want to know?"

"He betrayed our trust, we will not be speaking anymore. You must die and feed our hunger." The Asari drops to her knee then snaps up fully aware and mobile, sending a biotic throw at them.

Shepard and her squad dive out of the way. Coming up full bear, they fire on her. She erects a barrier, deflecting their shots.

More of the mindless thralls climb up from the chasm, running in disjointed loping gaits towards them. Garrus and Wrex open fire on the thralls, Shepard and Tali using their tech skills and pistols to attack the Asari. The press of enemies drives them back. Finding a stairwell up, Shepard signals her crew that way, aiming for the high ground to better attack from. The thralls fall easily enough, their emaciated bodies unable to withstand so much gunfire. The sheer number of them threaten to overwhelm them.

Tali and Shepard break through the Asari's barriers, landing a couple shots across her legs and shoulders. Nothing lethal yet. She screams out a deep feral call as she retreats back to the Thorian. Shepard and her crew dispatch the remaining thralls and look about the landing they've reached of the second floor.

"There has to be a way to kill this thing. What are we missing?" Shepard peers around the chamber, scrutinizing every detail. "Those ligaments, those arms. Could we bring them down?" She follows the line of the nearest one to them, seeing where it attaches to the wall above them. "Hello shiny." She says to it. Where it connects there is a soft bulb, a node of some kind. It looks weaker than the flesh surrounding it.

"Concentrate your fire on the node. Take it out." Their combined firepower rips through the node and flesh. As it tears away from the wall, the Thorian lets out a horrid wailing screech.

The Asari appears at the top of the next stairwell, her attacks fiercer this time as more thralls accompany her.

The battles get more heated as they make their way from one arm to the next. Four nodes fall, before they reach the final one, all of them have sustained more than their fair share of minor wounds. Shepard's medigel supply running low as she patches up a long gash across Garrus' jaw.

"You'll have a nice scar." She jokes as she puts the last pack of medical away, turning to face the final node. "Once more for the money?" She asks wryly, looking at her exhausted squad. Even Wrex is showing the strain from the shear overpowering force of the thralls. Each new asari clone more desperate and damaging than the last. She swears to the Trickster that this last node had better not unleash another wave or thralls. She's not sure that they'd survive. Four people are not made to handle the near hundreds of mindless killers they have faced.

Wrex and Garrus give curt nods, hefting their guns, Tali readies her omni tool to fire an incinerate, Shepard raises her pistol and gives the order, "Fire." They unleash a final volley into the node, it bursts and shudders. The Thorian lets out a long, wailing scream as the final anchor breaks, dropping it deep into the dark abyss.

Shepard sighs and leans against her knees, her head spinning, her legs threatening to give way.

"Shepard, Commander." Joker comes across the coms sounding relieved. "You're a miracle worker, whatever you've done has the colonists dropping like ragdolls. Chakwas is clamoring to go out to care for them."

Shepard sighs and straightens up, keying her coms, "Shepard here, tell Chakwas she's free to check on the colonists, they should be safe now. I'll give a full report when we return, Shepard out."

A gurgling sound to their left has all four of them instantly on guard. Shepard spins and raises her pistol, a section of the wall has a long bulbous part that is pulsing and moving. A loud crack sounds as the face of the sack shatters open like glass. The Asari body slumps out, fluids and slime pooling on the ground around her. Shepard carefully steps closer, kneeling down. "Hello? Can you hear me?" She nudges her shoulder with the muzzle of her pistol, "I really hope you're the base of the clone and not as nasty as them."

The Asari groans and pushes herself up to sitting and looks warily around at them. "I was a prisoner to the creature. He was so old, so ancient. It is a shame you has to kill him."

"It was kill or be killed." Shepard lowers her pistol, shipping it back to her thigh. "Who are you? Why were you imprisoned? Why not just kill you?"

"My name is Shiala. Saren needed the Cipher from the creature. With Benezia away, I as her highest acolyte had to perform the meld needed."

"What is this cipher? What does it do?"

"The images from the Beacon, Saren said you had seen them too, they are broken. Are they not? Scattered and nonsensical. The cipher helps to understand the Prothean language. It orders the images back to how they should be."

"I need this cipher. I have to know what Saren does. What these images mean, what the message is."

Shiala leans forward, kneeling close to Shepard her hands resting in her lap, "I can give you the cipher, I will need to do a meld."

Shepard can't help herself balking and scooting back a bit. "Oh no. Not that. Are you kidding me?!" She runs her hand through her hair with a growl. "Is that the only way?"

Shiala nods solemnly and holds her hands out to Shepard. "I swear on my honor, as an Asari and High Priestess to the Temple of Athame, that I shall not do any more than give you what you need."

Shepard groans and moves back closer, holding the Asari's hands in hers. "Alright. Do what you must."

Her eyes go black, blacker than the void of space, empty and depth less, Shepard feels herself lost in that gaze as Shiala speaks, "Embrace Eternity."

The images of the beacon race through her mind, torn and fractured, she can feel Shiala there with her, guiding each piece where it belongs. The sheer force of it all is too much for Shepard, her exhausted body collapses as Shiala pulls out of the meld.


	42. Chapter 42

**Author's Note:** Hello, got a left of canon chapter today. probly be one more before we hit virmire. Liara was naggling me for another chapter. She's stubborn that way, ;)

Anywhos, Enjoy!

R&R please!

* * *

Darkness inter spaces with orange and red fires, flashes from the beacons, all blurring together with fragments of her memory. She snaps awake with a startled gasp.

"Hey, easy there Commander." Chakwas steps up to the bedside as Shepard sits up, dropping her legs over the side and bracing her head in her hands.

"What happened? How long have I been out?"

Chakwas lifts her head, checking her eyes and head with a quick scan. "You've been out for three hours. Garrus says you blacked out after a meld with another Asari."

"I'm starting to think I'm allergic to those things." Shepard smiles wryly and shifts to stand up. "Am I cleared for duty?"

Chakwas sighs before answering reluctantly, "You are. Try to stay out of my infirmary for more than a few days, if you please." Chakwas turns and walks away to her desk as Shepard smiles, nodding as she leaves.

Deunan meets her in the mess grinning, "You really know how to fall for these Asari don't cha?"

Shepard elbows her, shoving her lightly, "Funny you are. How bout this, you can have your brain probed next time." Sitting at a table she thinks on how melding with Liara felt different than the others. Easier almost. Minus the reverse living, it was more peaceful.

"I'll let you keep that spot. You're brain's a lot more interesting than mine." Deunan pats her shoulder as she walks to the mess line to get them drinks.

Shepard looks around the crew deck and sees Liara a few tables away watching her. As their eyes meet both women blush slightly, looking away quickly. She leans her head into her hands on the table groaning. Thinking of Liara makes her feel guilty for rejecting her. Did she make the right decision? Was she too harsh? Could there be anything there that could work?

Lost in thought she doesn't hear Deunan sit and call out to her. Her touch at her shoulder jerks her from her thoughts. "What?" Shepard starts and glares at her friend, but then sighs, taking the water glass she hands her.

"I saw you two eyeing each other." Deunan teases, giving her a nudge with her elbow. "What are you waiting for? You ain't no virgin. I know that, even in the Asari category." She gives a sly grin and wink.

"Trickster curse it Deunan." Shepard hisses at her. "Leave off it. There's nothing going on, nothing will ever happen. I've got too much to do to even think on that."

Deunan raises her hands in mock surrender. "Whoa, easy does it tiger. And ya ain't fooling me. There is something there. So why aren't you doing anything about it?"

Shepard snorts and scoffs at her, "What, and repeat what happened with Lin? I'll pass thanks. I prefer the easy singleton route, thanks all the same. She's just a crush, I'll get over it."

"Ah, but you know Liara is more than just a crush. You could have the real article there sweets." Deunan grips her chin lightly, turning her to look towards Liara. Shepard sees the asari smile and laugh at a joke or something Kaiden said. It lights up her whole face, those sapphire eyes sparkling.

Deunan continues, saying, "She's the real deal, and she ain't gonna stick around forever."

Shepard jerks her chin out of Deunan's hand looking back to the table. "I can't Deunan, I can't go back there. Not again."

Her friend pats her shoulder as she stands to leave. "Sure ya can. You're a big girl. It's time ya grew up from your toys and fears."

Shepard rises quickly from the table intending to snap at Deunan, but as she turns to face her, she's already gone.

Instead, she runs full on into Liara. The asari stumbles. Instinctively Shepard puts her hands out, steadying Liara. "Hey, sorry. My bad."

Liara smiles shyly at her, "Oh, no. It is fine. I was not paying attention."

Shepard is aware her hands are still holding Liara, reluctantly she drops them back to her side. "Seems we both were a bit preoccupied."

"So it seems." Liara ducks her head in a shy nod before looking up, concern etched on her face. "I heard you were injured on the mission, I am glad you are doing well."

Shepard rubs the back of her neck. "Uh, thanks. I think I'll pass on anymore melds with strange asari. They seem to end ill for me."

Liara looks concerned, "Did she hurt you?"

"No, well, not intentionally. It was necessary. I needed the cipher she had. To help understand the beacon images."

"Did it help?" Liara's face lights with curiosity. "The cipher, did it truly translate the Prothean beacon?"

"I don't know." Shepard scrubs at her face tiredly before sighing gruffly. "Yes, no, maybe..it's all still jumbled. I can't keep it straight. There's important information there, a warning against something, desperate and vigilant. But it's all chaos and nonlinear."

Liara opens her mouth to speak. Briefly closes it to think, before asking quietly, shyly. "Is there anyway, I could maybe help?" She ducks her head down to hide the flush of her cheeks, hands clasped tightly in front of her, holding back the shakes. "I know that you are uncomfortable with the melds, but I might be able to help. I would like to."

Shepard clenches her jaw tight, biting back a groan. Her mind and heart at turmoil inside her. She fears if she lets Liara in, then she'll see everything. She'll know about her past. And she can't know about that. No one can.

Liara sees the indecision plain across Shepard's face and reaches out hesitantly to touch her shoulder. "We could go to my quarters, or yours, if that makes you more comfortable?"

Shepard sighs, "Yeah, that would help. My quarters then, I need a stiff drink before we do this." She turns away, striding to her quarters, leaving Liara to follow.

Deunan watches this exchange from the doorway to her cabin and can't help a wry grin, thinking maybe there's hope for the two of them yet. Shep needs a woman like Liara around. Someone kind and gentle, and someone to keep her on her toes. Liara will be good for her. She knows that it's time for her to start again. No one as good as Shepard deserves to be alone forever. Humming a little tune, she steps into her cabin, planning on a nice quiet night of drinking.


	43. Chapter 43

**Author's Note:**Hey guys. Sorry for the delay. Been a busy week at work and my Mom was in the hospital. All is good now.

I will be out of town this week, so it will probly be closer to next friday (4/26) before I get a new chapter up. I will do my best for you guys.

Enjoy!

R&R please!

* * *

Shepard pours herself a small glass of whiskey. She glances back over her shoulder at Liara, "Do you want a drink?"

"No, thank you." Liara holds her hands loosely in front of her, inexplicably nervous and shy again. She looks around the cabin trying to avoid Shepard's gaze.

Shepard leans back against her desk, arms folded across her chest as she looks down at her glass, taking a sip before looking to Liara and sighing softly. "Look, about before. I'm..." She trails off, rubbing at the back of her neck, "I'm sorry for what I said. I shouldn't have been so harsh."

Liara looks up startled a bit by her. "It's alright. I understand. The mission has to come first." She looks down towards the deck, rubbing absently at her arm.

Shepard sets her glass down and steps close. Reaching out, she gently tilts Liara's head back up, her fingers under her chin. "Hey, this is something I haven't felt or done in a long time. I had no call to say to you what I did. I'm sorry."

Liara nods and smiles slightly, just a small one as she takes Shepard's hand. "I too am sorry. I should not have told you what I feel, it could jeopardize the mission." She sighs softly, and straightens her back, looking at Shepard, her expression neutral and serious. "You said that this cipher has helped, but the visions are still unclear?"

Shepard blinks, momentarily confused by the abrupt change of topic, she recovers quickly and nods. "Yes, the images are clearer, I can hear and understand snippets of voices, but nothing is in the right order."

"Please, let me help. I should be able to assist you in sorting out the images with a meld."

Shepard scowls lightly but nods determined and meets Liara's eyes, "Alright, let's get this done with."

Liara takes both Shepard's hands in hers. Her eyes go dark as she catches the Commander's gaze in hers and says softly, her voice deep and clear. "Find your place of serenity, find your peace." Shepard feels herself falling into that endless ebony void, her Da's song rising in her head. "Embrace Eternity!"

Liara's head snaps back as Shepard feels herself land in her meadow. Liara is there still holding her hands. "What happens now?"

"I need you to think on the Beacon's vision. I'll be here to help guide you."

Shepard concentrates on the beacon, reluctantly drawing the visions to her foremind. They come in a rush, broken, scattered. Each one flashing for only a moment before being replaced by another. A chaotic strobe of images. Voices accompany the images. Indistinct before, they now scream in fear and in warning.

She feels a cool presence in her mind, soft blue light calms, and slows the images. Liara. She's helping to organize it.

"Concentrate Shepard. I need you to take control. Don't let the visions slip away from you."

"Concentrate on what? I have no idea what I'm doing."

She can hear exasperation in Liara's voice as she responds, "You're a marine. Order them if you have to."

"Right, order them." Shepard tries to concentrate, to force the images to stop their onslaught. Slowly, bit by bit they shift and move, falling into a semblance of order. They finally settle into one linear vision. It shifts and flows through her mind. Gaps still permeate spots. Death. Destruction. Fear. Hopelessness. Over and over again, the voices cry out in anguish. The vision is a warning, the Reapers are coming. A planet looms out of a fiery void, black and ominous. It is important, vital. It fades as the final image appears, a massive ship, like Sovereign, dark and desolate, one red eye glowing. As it encompases all of her sight. Liara breaks the meld, staggering back.

"Liara?" Shepard catches the asari's arms and guides her to sit on the edge of the bed. "Are you alright?"

Liara sighs softly, laying her hand over Shepard's on her arm. "I will be visions, they were more chaotic than I anticipated."

"Tell me about it." Shepard grumbles under her breath. She stands up, cautiously letting go of Liara. "Will you be ok? Do you want some water, or something?"

"Yes, water would be nice." Liara holds her hand to her forehead, sighing again.

Going to her desk she pours Liara a glass of water, grabbing her whiskey before sitting on the bed beside Liara, handing her the water. "It's still missing things. That planet. What is it for? Why is it important? Where is the rest of the message?"

"I do not know. We may never know. All the fragments are in the right order now. There is nothing else there."

Shepard takes a drink of her whiskey. "We need to find that planet. It has to hold the key to the rest of the vision." She runs her hand across her face and head, knocking her hair out of it's tie.

Liara reaches out and lightly strokes the loose hair back from her face. The smooth silk texture is unusual, and unexpected, she finds it pleasing. "We will find it, do not lose hope."

Shepard is surprised by Liara's touch, but she turns her head to look into her eyes. She can feel herself losing her resolve. There is something about Liara, something she can't resist. She caresses Liara's cheek lightly with her thumb, without thinking she draws her close.

Their lips just touch before Liara says softly, "Shepard, I.." She breaks off as Shepard kisses her softly, tenderly. Her breath stops, she feels lost in her kiss. Everything else fades away, it's just her and Shepard. She returns the kiss, heat making her blush deeply before she draws back, putting her fingers to her lips. "Shepard.." Her voice is soft, her breath catching.

"It's alright." Shepard is breathless too as she strokes Liara's cheek lightly, and smiles her crooked grin. "Anybody ever tell you you're a good kisser?"

Liara's eyes go wide as she pushes away from the Commander. She frantically scrambles to her feet from the bed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't..we shouldn't...I'm sorry." She turns and flees the room.

Shepard calls after her, but Liara is too quick, gone before Shepard could even stand. Groaning she drops back to the bed, bracing her head in her hands, leaning on her knees. "Stupid, stupid fool." She berates herself. She sits back and smacks her forehead forcefully. "Frakking idiot." She pushes to her feet and downs her whiskey before leaving her cabin. She wastes no time in getting to the gym. Stripping off her uniform blouse she stands in her black tank and begins to assault the punching bag. Each hit is punctuated by more swearing. "Stupid. Idiot. Fool." She switches to kicks and punches. "Just had to kiss her? Couldn't bleeding hold it in? Frakking idiot." She is so caught up in her rant she doesn't notice Deunan enter the cargo hold.

"You kissed her?" Deunan's voice and laugh make Shepard turn around. "I knew one of you would sooner or later." She leans against the wall nearby.

Shepard waves Deunan off gruffly as she steps away from the bag. "Fuck off."

"I seem to remember you are a pretty good kisser. So why are you here pissed rather than with her?"

"She ran. Alright?" Shepard growls, grabbing a bottle of water and downing it.

"Still doesn't answer my question." Deunan comes up and rests her hand on Shepard's shoulder, "Why are you here?"

She starts to glare, then sighs. "What am I supposed to say?"

"Well, I've never known you to not fight for what you want. And there's no doubt you want her, and she wants you too."

"Then why'd she run?"

"Kels, think on it. You are an Alliance N7 Commander, a Council Spectre, tough as nails, and beautiful to boot." Shepard glares at her, and Deunan gives her a nudge with her elbow and a wink, "Suck it up, ya are. You intimidate the hell out of the poor girl. What's she sposed to think when you kiss her?"

"Something other than running away." She grumbles, looking towards the lift, conflicted on what to do.

"Go to her. Talk to her. And for heavens sake, don't kiss her again. You'll scare her worse."

Shepard glares at Deunan, then sighs. "Alright then. Still don't know what the hell to say to her."

Deunan gives her a light push toward the lift. "You'll figure it out. Now go."

"I'm going, I'm going. Criminy. Slave driver you are." Deunan just grins at her as she walks toward the lift. Head down, mind whirling on what she could possibly say to Liara to fix this.

"Why the hell did I have to kiss her?" She asks as she steps into the lift, heading back to the Crew deck.


	44. Chapter 44

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! Sorry for the longer delay than promised. I ended up sick and with a mondo crazy work week. But, I have goodies for you today.

I won't say anymore, cause it's too good to spoil.

Enjoy!

Read and Review please!

* * *

Shepard barely has time to key the lift for the crew deck before Joker comes on the comms,

"Commander, message coming in from the Council, you want me to patch it through?"

She swears under her breath and answers. "Send it to the comm room, I'll take it there."

"Aye, Ma'am. Joker out."

Stepping off the lift she glances wistfully back towards medbay before turning and heading up the stairs to comms. Unsure if the interruption is a good or bad timing. Entering the comms room she goes to neaten her blouse before realizing she left it down below. Sighing ruefully she smooths out her tank and brushes her hair back from her face, hoping for a modicum of presentable.

She keys the comm on and salutes the council as the holograms appear. "Councilors, is there something you need?"

Tevos has a curious smile that she quickly suppresses as she responds, "We've lost contact with a Salarian scout team in the Terminus Systems."

"What were they scouting for?"

"There are reports that Saren has an outpost there. The news is, disturbing." a dark look flashes across her face as she speaks

"What is Saren doing out there?"

"That's nothing you need to know." Valern snaps. His voice clipped and angry. "Our STG team has not reported in. They are never late on reports."

Sparatus speaks up, giving Valern a sharp disapproving look. "They were investigating the planet Virmire in the Hoc system."

"We want you to go there." Tevos says, catching Shepard's eyes, "Investigate what happened and what Saren is doing there, then report back to us."

"Find out what happened to my STG team." Valern snaps again.

Tevos waves sharply at Valern, cutting him off. The look she gives him is a silent order to shut up. Shepard has to bite back a grin. "Saren is the priority. Investigate the team, find them if you can. Saren's activities are of the highest priority."

"Yes ma'am." Shepard bows her head briefly, coming to attention.

"That'll be all." Tevos says, giving Valern one last sharp look as he opens his mouth, then she cuts the line, ending the comm.

Shepard turns away, grinning as she thinks on the way Tevos acted towards Valern. She has a feeling she'll be glad to not hear that discussion. Whistling softly she leaves the comms room, opening up a channel to Joker she orders, "Joker, set in a course for the Hoc systems, planet Virmire. Orders from the Council."

"Aye Ma'am." Joker responds, "ETA three hours. You all play nice?"

She chuckles before responding, "Yeah, poor Councilor Valern managed to piss off Councilor Tevos. Was an amusing sight. Shepard out."

She turns down the stairwell to the Crew deck, going to her cabin to shower and change. Maybe see if she can talk to Liara before they go dirtside.

As she steps into her cabin, her mind is half on the mission ahead and half on Liara. She pulls off her tank, tossing it onto the desk chair before turning to her locker to pull out a fresh set of NWUs she comes up short. Her mouth drops open in brief shock, blushing fiercely at the sight of Liara sitting on the edge of her bed.

Liara looks as shell shocked as Shepard feels. She quickly averts her eye stuttering, "Oh, Shepard..I'm sorry I should have waited, come later, um, oh."

Shepard recovers from her shock enough to notice she is standing in only her sports bra and pants. Quickly she grabs the first shirt in her locker, one of her N7 hoodies and pulls it on fast. Zipping it up nearly to her collar bone. "I uh.." she rubs at the back of her neck. "I wasn', err.. expecting you here. Sorry about you seeing...uh...that.. We've, well...got a new mission, from the councilors..."

Liara quickly stands up, "I am sorry...I better go. I should not have come."

As she tries to quickly walk past, Shepard catches her elbow, stopping her. "Wait, please don't go. We uh, need to talk."

Liara sighs softly as she draws her arm from Shepard's grip. "ok."

Turning to face Liara she crosses her arms, "Look, um, I'm sorry about before. I, shouldn't have kissed you. It was unprofessional of me."

Liara briefly closes her eyes, silently asking the goddess for patience and help in what to do. Her heart and mind are torn. "It is alright Shepard. I..I should not have run."

Shepard is taken aback by this, her eyes going wide a moment before she asks. "No? Why, uh, why not?"

She blushes as she looks to the deck, her voice almost a squeak from nerves, "I have, I've never been, well.."

Shepard can't help a wry grin as she realizes what Liara is trying to say. "Been kissed?"

"Yes, that, well. yes." She is so appalled at how she is reacting, stuttering over her words. "I have not, been the most...the most..social, of Asari."

"Shy Archeologist, you've never been, well, with anyone?"

"Yes, that would be, correct."

She lightly grips Liara's chin, tilting her up to meet her gaze. "It's ok, I have, well..cared for you, for sometime now."

"You, you have?" Liara hesitantly takes Shepard's hand in hers. "I had assumed, you were not...you seemed to, to not want me. But then.."

"Then I kissed you." She strokes her cheek softly. "I don't regret it, not if you're ok with it."

"I do not mind it, so much...either..not..not if you do not..mind." She puts her hand over Shepard's on her cheek.

Shepard steps close, tilting Liara's head back just slightly, her fingers under her chin. Their lips brush in a soft, hesitant kiss.

Liara sighs softly, she kisses Shepard back, tenderly. She feels a heat spread from the kiss, across her cheeks and neck.

Shepard grips Liaras chin and jaw tighter, a low groan in her throat as she deepens the kiss. Her tongue flicking across Liara's lip, seeking entrance. She parts her lips almost unconsciously. Resting her hand on Shepard's hip, as she returns this deeper, more passionate heat across her neck and face spreads as a fire across her body. The world fades away, there is only the two of them and this fiery passion.

Shepard nips Liara's lower lip, drawing a soft gasp from her. Drawing back from the kiss, her breath heavy and fast, her voice rough, husky. "Yeah, nothing to regret there.." She strokes Liara's softly swollen lip with her thumb. "Sorry 'bout that." She murmurs softly.

Liara leans her head slightly to rest her cheek against Shepard's hand. "It is alright. That was, um, was.." Her voice is soft and breathless, her thoughts still muddled by the flurry of emotions from the kiss.

"Incredible?" She replies, giving one of her crooked grins. She dips in to kiss Liara briefly, a soft tender kiss.

"Yes, that." Liara steps back from Shepard's light touch. "What happens now? Where do we go from here?"

Shepard rubs at the back of her neck. "I don't know. There's still the mission, and it's not like I'm able to take you on a date or something."

Liara sighs softly, the expression on her face fading, becoming more neutral. "Yes, the mission. It must take priority."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Still, maybe we could do something? Dinner in my cabin, or something?"

Liara smiles, her eyes lighting up, a slight blush mantling her cheeks. "Dinner sounds lovely."

"Ok, cool." She grins her crooked grin. "Um, I guess I really should be getting, well, dressed and prepped. Are you, would you like to come on this mission?"

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to Virmire. Tracking down a Salarian STG team that's gone missing."

"Yes, I would like to, if you need me to."

Shepard nods, standing up from the bed, "Yeah, we could use your biotics down there. Not sure what we're going to find. The Council has found evidence that Saren has set up some kind of base there. We're being sent to investigate."

"A base? Do we know any details?"

"No, if the Council knows they are keeping it to themselves."

"Ok, I shall go and get ready myself."

"Right, I'll meet you, Garrus, and Wrex in the cargo bay in an hour."

Liara nods and turns to leave. Shepard reaches out and takes her hand, pulling her back, kissing her softly once more.

Liara lightly returns the kiss, blushing. "What was that for?"

"Just checking." Shepard smiles and goes into the head. Leaving Liara in her cabin.

She touches her lips briefly, watching the Commander go, before turning and leaving. Her mind reeling with emotions.


	45. Chapter 45

**Authors'**** Note**: Hey there all. Sorry for the delay. Work is getting busy and writer's block is being stubborn.

Here's some goodies for ya. Try not to hate me come the end. ;)

Enjoy!

R&R please!

* * *

Chapter forty five

Shepard glances in the mirror once more as she finishes buckling her armor on. Checking everything is in place. Thinking on what just happened she sighs, clips her helmet to her belt and steps out of her cabin, making her way to the cargo hold, lost in thought. She kissed Liara, Liara kissed her back. What is she doing? This wasn't supposed to happen again. She swore off love after Lin. What is it about this woman, this Asari, that has captured her heart? Is she who Sha'ira meant when she said to open her heart again? Why Liara? It's not something she can pin down. She's certainly beautiful, no denying that. But that's not all there is, that's not what has taken hold of her. Liara's blue eyes come to her memory.

The blue that is both the rich blue of the ocean, and the dazzling blue of galaxies. The eyes that are the window to the soul. And she can see into Liara's. Innocence is there, so is determination, humor, intelligence, beauty, and kindness.

Maybe it's all of that which has transfixed her. She isn't sure, but one thing she is sure of. Those blue eyes, and the woman they belong to has captured her heart. It is thrilling and terrifying to realize that she does love her, more than anyone before. She would lay her own life down to protect her. She would give anything and everything for her.

She comes to herself as she disembarks the lift, her feet having taken her here while she was lost in thought. stepping up to her locker she draws out her weapons and pack. Her eyes catch Liara's as she reaches for her own gear. They both blush slightly and glance away quickly. Shepard straps her pistol to its holster, shipping her rifle on her back.

Turning away from her locker she nods to Wrex, Garrus, and Liara. "Ok, Council has sent us to Virmire to investigate reports of Saren building a base here. A Salarian STG team was also sent here, they have not reported in for some time now. We are to help them if we find them. The base is our primary objective. Any questions?" when they all shake their heads she nods and waves towards the mako. "Load up then. Let's get going. I want wheels down on that planet and let's find out what Saren wants from here." The team all settles on board. Shepard and Liara take the cockpit, Shepard setting up to drive. Garrus and Wrex take station in the rear signalling they're ready to go.

She presses her coms and opens a line to the ship, "Shepard to Normandy. We're all set and a-ok for drop."

"Roger that Commander." Joker responds. "We've located what might be the base. There is a massive area well covered by AA guns. We won't be able to get close to confirm."

"Copy that. We'll clear the route for you."

"Aye, Commander. Dropping you in five, four, three.." He trails off as Shepard picks up the count. She feels the mag thrusters of the deck slide them out of the rear of the Normandy's bay as the ship tilts slightly up and they ease out.

"Out and away." She radios back to Joker, "Engaging stabilizing thrusters." She feels the rumble through the deck as the ventral eezo thrusters fire up to balance the load of the Mako, and slow its descent to the ground. She cuts off the thrusters ten feet up from the ground, it falls sharply and bounces slightly as it settles. They land in a shallow river, only a foot or two deep. It winds through a deep ravine or canyon.

"Shepard to Normandy, I need a NAV point. Give me a fix on which direction I'm heading."

"Copy that Commander. Coordinates coming now."

A NAV point lights up on her console, heading west-south-west. "Roger coordinates. Drawback to a safe distance Normandy. We'll clear the skies for you."

"Aye aye Ma'am. Normandy out."

She activates the Mako's thermal and infrared scanners to keep an eye out for Geth. "Garrus, get up into the turret. I don't expect this to be an easy insertion."

"Got you covered. All strapped in and ready to load out."

"Right then. Let's go. Nice and steady."

Shepard's wish for nice and steady was hopeful thinking at best. The course to the outer wall of the base was clogged with Geth troops. The mako has taken it's christening bath through fire now, Shepard grimaces as they disembark and she sees the massive scorch marks across the seared plating.

She looks to the wall and the beach shore of the river they are standing in, examining the pre-fab trailers and compartments. She approaches a Salarian as he steps forward.

"Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance, Council Spectre." She extends her hand for a shake.

He returns the gesture, "Captain Kirrahe, Salarian STG. Spectre Shepard, Are you the advance guard? We've sent messages. Saren is creating a Krogan army, will need backup."

She holds her hands up waving him back, "Hey, whoa. Slow down. Start at the top. There is no backup. The Council never received your messages. We're the only ship, we were sent to scout and find out what is going on here."

"Saren has a laboratory here, claims a cure to the Genophage, is building an army of Krogan. Can't have that, too much risk. Must destroy, ship has options..-"

Wrex surges forward, cutting off Kirrahe. "A cure, and You want to destroy it?" he growls loud, grabbing the Kirrahe's upper arm. "We can use this to help my people!"

Kirrahe speaks to Shepard, surprisingly calm for having an angry Krogan holding him tight. "Shepard, please control your Krogan."

"He's not my Krogan." She sighs and places her hand on Wrex's shoulders. "Hey, back off. Come on. This isn't a cure. He's building an army of fully grown Krogan. He has to be cloning."

Wrex lets go of Kirrahe, thrusting him backward. He shrugs Shepard's hand off his shoulder. "We don't know that. He could have this cure." He turns away, walking a distance from them, growling and fuming mostly silent.

"This is why we need genophage. Krogan too impulsive, too dangerous. Population growth must be contained."

Shepard glares at Kirrahe, "He just wants what's best for his people. Do we know how Saren is getting all these krogans?"

"Cloning factory and accelerated growth. Not true 'cure' but has possibility of adaptation to effectively treat Genophage." Wrex must've heard this, he fires off his shotgun into the river, hitting a small school of fish. Obliterating them. "Control your Krogan. We cannot do this mission with him unstable."

Shepard gives Kirrahe a scowl, "He's not _my_ Krogan." She turns away and approaches Wrex.

He fires the shotgun once more as she comes to stand by him. "It's not right. Even if they are clones. We have a chance here Shepard."

"I know. But it isn't a real cure. It's just accelerated growth and clones. It's a false hope."

"I heard him say it could be adapted. We can't destroy it."

"Wrex, we have to. We can't allow Saren to continue sending out Krogan soldiers. They'll wipe out any resistance. He's making them for a reason. To build an army."

"Shepard, I can't let this to happen. It could be our only chance for a cure."

"I don't want to have to order you Wrex. We can work this out."

"No, Shepard. We can't." He suddenly turns, raising his shotgun. "I can't let you do this."

Shepard reacts on instinct, drawing up her pistol to aim dead on his throat, the only instant kill spot on a Krogan. "Wrex, drop it. We don't have to do this."

Wrex responds by settling his gun firmly against his shoulder, ready to fire. "I won't. I can help my people here."

"Wrex! Drop it!" She sees his hand start to depress the trigger. Three shots ring out in the still air, startling birds into flight and getting the shocked attention of those in the vicinity. Three shots that determine a fate for good.


	46. Chapter 46

**Author's Note:** Hey all. Thanks for sticking around. New chapter here, sorry for the delay got caught up building cosplay and writer's block took the advantage and settled in.

Back at it now though. so, Enjoy!

Read and Review please!

* * *

Shepard blinks her eyes in the dazzling sunlight, the blue sky comes into focus as does another source of blue. Soft blue skin, and sapphire eyes. Groaning from pain, she tries to sit up. "What happened?"

"Easy Shepard," Liara helps her to sit up, as her head spins she feels a deep ache across her left side and thigh, her thigh is a burning ache. Looking down she sees blood seeping out from numerous small holes in the armor of her thigh. The fog in her mind fades all at once. She remembers and wishes she hadn't. She looks past Liara's shoulder, barely noticing as Liara starts to pull off her armor to treat her leg.

When she sees the large form laying half sprawled in the river she fights back tears, a small sob escapes her, turning into a hissing gasp when she feels Liara touch her leg. Wrex, gone, just like that. She looks away from the sight, dropping her head into her hand, hiding the tears that won't stay back.

Why'd he have to do that? There had to have been another way. She'd killed him, she had to. She wished she hadn't. Him or her, it should have been her. She took the life of one of her own. So precise and calculating. She hadn't even hesitated. Just fired. Two shots to either side of his neck. She knew death would have been near instant, but even then he'd still managed to fire. and he had aimed for her leg. Aimed to incapacitate, not to kill. Whilst she'd shot to kill, and she had. She killed him.

Liara touches her shoulder, saying softly. "There's nothing you could have done."

She shrugs off Liara's hand, scrubbing her face with her hand quickly. "I didn't have to kill him. I could have disabled him."

"You could not have disabled a Krogan."

"You don't know that. He didn't shoot to kill. he shot to disable me, not to kill me."

"And knocked you flat on your ass." Deunan comes over to help Shepard stand. "I saw it all Kels. You did what you had to do, because-"

"Because there was no other choice." She interrupts Deunan. "Right, cause there's never another choice, a better choice."

Liara puts her hand lightly on Shepard's arm, turning her away from seeing Wrex. "You did only what you could, what you have been trained to do." Liara reaches out without thinking, softly brushing back a loose lock of Shepard's hair, "You did what you had to, there was no choice."

Shepard takes Liara's hand, drawing it into her own, "One day there will be another choice. One day, there will be." She growls as she stands up. Testing her leg carefully. It takes her weight, painful, but bearable. Liara helps put the armor back on, mindful of the bandages.

She steps gingerly on her leg as she walks over to where Wrex lays. Kaiden, Garrus and a few men of the crew are, gently as they can, rolling Wrex onto a hover stretcher to take him aboard.

"Wait." She calls out, stepping closer as the stretcher rises. She stoops down to grab Wrex's shotgun, left on the ground. "He should have this." She places the gun across his chest, her throat locking up momentarily. She clears it to say, "I don't know Krogan death rights. But a warrior should always go with their weapon."

Kaiden nods respectfully, Garrus looks thoughtful then respectfully nods as well.

"We've still got the mission." Shepard says gruffly, stepping back from the stretcher. "Take him aboard, we'll..we'll take care of him when we finish." The crew members turn and direct the stretcher away. Garrus and Kaiden stay behind.

"Round up the squad, the sooner we get this going, the sooner it's over." Kaiden salutes and hurries away aboard ship to round up the rest of the squad. Meanwhile Garrus stays by Shepard as she turns back toward Liara and Deunan.

"What's the plan Shep?" Deunan asks settling in step with Shepard as she walks by. Liara falls in behind them.

"The plan is up to Kirrahe. This is his mission, we're only here for backup." As they approach the tent where he is standing, he has a small crowd of his remaining soldiers, giving a rallying speech.

He dismisses his troops as he turns toward Shepard. "Commander, regretful about the Krogan. Unfortunate. My condolences."

Shepard mutters her thanks, not wanting to talk about it. "What can I and my squad do to help?"

"Need a distraction team and an infiltration team. My forces will attack the front once numbers are reduced or dispersed."

"We can split our squad up. Handle both tasks." She turns around and sees her squad arrayed behind her. "Liara, Tali, you are with me. We will be the infiltration team. Ashley, I want you with Kirrahe. Take half our marines and back him up. Kaiden, Garrus, you have the rest of our marines. I'm leaving the distraction up to you. Make it good. We'll need all the time we can get."

Her squad salutes or nods their consent and approval. "Alright then people. Let's get moving. Soonest done soonest over. I don't want one damned Krogan clone left alive." She turns back to look to Kirrahe, "What are the plans for the actual base? How do you plan to destroy it or the data?"

"Modifying ship's reactor core. Should make a good sized bomb. Will be sufficiently large enough to destroy base. Need a way to transport it.."

"Use the Normandy. She'll keep you safe." She draws up Joker on the coms. "Joker, Shepard here. We'll need the Normandy as a nuke transport. Kirrahe will be sending a squad to protect it until we've got the base cleared."

"Nuke babysitting eh?" Joker replies a tone of amusement in his voice. "We can manage that. We'll welcome the Salarians aboard since all our marines just hot tailed it out of here."

"Yes, I ordered them. We need reinforcements for our assault on the base. Just get that bomb in when we call."

"Will do Commander. Joker out."

Shepard turns back to Kirrahe. "Select your squad and get that bomb loaded. It's time to go."

"Correct, Commander. Must be on our way." He turns away, bringing his coms up to pass out orders as he goes.

"Squad let's go. You all know your duties, your assignments. Dismissed." Kaiden, Ashley, and the marines all salute before breaking into their separate teams, readying for the fight ahead. she looks to Tali and Liara sighing softly. "Right then ladies. Time for us to go. We've got the easy job."

"With you leading, I doubt so Shepard." Tali says with a hint of amusement. Liara covers her mouth to suppress a laugh as Shepard mock scowls at the Quarian.

"Very funny. Come on then. We need to be in place when the shit hits the fan."

They set off through a gap the salarians have blown in the wall. Coming out the other side they are in the shallower water of the delta. Cliffs and spires tower above them, splitting the river into many paths and shallow pools.

Navigating the myriad of paths takes longer than Shepard cares for. Finally exiting upon the side of the base they spot a small maintenance entrance at ground level, below the catwalks and bridges that lead to the main entrance.

"That's our way in." Shepard says softly, indicating the door. "I see four guards on duty all Krogan. Four snipers, Geth on the rooftop. Time for things to get interesting" She chins her mic, keeping her eyes on a swivel, watching all the guards. "Shepard to Normandy. Joker, you read me?"

"I got you ma'am. what can I do for you?"

"Things are about to get lively. A flyover or two would be a great help to the chaos we're looking to ensue."

She can practically hear the smile in his voice as he responds, "Oh, aye aye ma'am. Flyovers we can do. Get those folks running circles in no time. Normandy out."

Shepard radios up Kaiden next, "Kaiden, Shepard here. We're all set. Release the dogs of hell on them."

"Aye ma'am." He responds quickly. "We'll keep them off your back. Kaiden out."

She turns to look back at Liara and Tali behind her. Both are standing set and ready to move."As soon as they move out of sight we move. Get to that door. Tali, you crack the lock and I'll be right behind you. Liara, you and I will cover for the snipers if they hang around."

The two women nod, as Shepard signals Tali to take point. Readying themselves on the edge or the cover of the cliffs Liara takes Shepard's elbow ligfhtly in her grip. "Shepard, I.."

Placing her finger over the asari's lips Shepard answers softly, knowing what she is trying to say. "I know. We'll all come out ok." She nods curtly before turning away. "Let's go. Keep low. move as quickly and silently as possible. With any luck we'll make it across safely undetected."

Tali takes a few cautious steps out of the cover easing across the scant shadows afforded by the cliffs to their left, Liara and Shepard right behind. Turning, Shepapard backpeddles behind the other two, keeping a sharp eye on the catwalks above, ready to fire if the guards glance down.

Hearing the whir and whining of the Normandyu's engine she smiles wryly, awaiting the flyover.

Joker doesn't disappoint as he brings the Normandy in a low pass over. As he nears the base and turns the ship up, Shepard knows what he's going to do. She gives Liara and Tali forcefull shoves, yelling for them to move, and move fast.

They reach the scant cover of the target door just as the Normandy flys past and up, blasting the catwalks and the front of the base with the superheated air from the blowback of the engines.

They turn away, covering their faces and crouching low as the wash of heat passes over them, churning up dust and turning the streams into steaming geysers.

"Tali, that door is not gonna open itself. If those Krogan survived the blast they are going to be scouring the area for more attacks. We need insoide, and now."

Tali doesn't waste time to answer, crouching low she sets to work hacking the security on the lock. In no time the door chimes softly and slides open, Liara goes in first to clear the room, Tali follows, and Shepard backs in, sweeping the outside once more to be sure they weren't spotted. Knowing they're clear she turns and enters the base.


End file.
